


Take a sip

by UnderZeWeather



Series: Warlocks, Demons, and Angels [1]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst, Demon AU, Gore, M/M, Magic AU, Misunderstandings, Rating May Change, Slow Burn, mild body horror, side shiro/adam
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-05
Updated: 2019-12-23
Packaged: 2020-10-10 16:23:20
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 55
Words: 189,446
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20530982
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/UnderZeWeather/pseuds/UnderZeWeather
Summary: Years before Lance was born his uncle was disowned by the family. Now Lance is being told this stranger has died and left him his old home. He probably should have sold the property immediately, but he was interested in seeing what the old place had to offer and he was keen to discover what kind of person his uncle was.He never should have gone there.





	1. The summoning

**Author's Note:**

> Hey everyone. Hope you all enjoy this. It's another slow burn so get ready for a long one. Kudos and comment when you can. Enjoy :D

It was storming that day Lance answered the door. He and his roommate, Hunk, weren’t expecting anyone. Two tall men who looked like bikers who stuffed themselves into suits were standing outside. A million thoughts raced through Lance’s mind. He was pretty sure that neither of them went and got in trouble with any shady characters. He and Hunk were just simple university students.

“C-can I help you?” He asked.

The slightly shorter of the two men nodded a little. “Are you Lance McCalin, or does a Lance McCalin live here?”

“Um… That is I. I’m Lance.”

The man took a card out of his pocket and handed it to him. “I am Kolivan and this is Antok. We represent Marmora lawyers. May we come in?”

Lance was a little reluctant, but let them in. Hunk was a little confused as to who these men were and kept giving Lance worried looks. They were here for there for him after all. Was he in some kind of legal trouble? He really hoped he wasn’t.

It was kind of awkward having them sit there and Kolivan seemed to notice it. “I think we have gotten off on the wrong foot.” Said Kolivan calmly. “As I stated at the door name is Kolivan and this is my associate, Antok.” Antok nodded. “We represent Marmora lawyers. I am actually the CEO and Antok is the vice CEO. Our agency mainly handles all the legal red tape that comes with wills and dividing estates after our clients have passed away.”

“Wait, wills?” Questioned Lance. He didn’t know anyone that died. His family was extremely close and tight knit. He would have known if someone had died. “Who died?”

Kolivan gave him a solemn look. “I regret to inform you that your uncle Marcello passed away several weeks ago. As per his wishes and the wishes of your grandparents his extended family was not informed until one week after his official funeral.”

Lance was very confused by this. As far as he knew he didn’t have an uncle named Marcello. There must have been a mistake. “I’m sorry, but I think there has been a mistake. I have uncles named Antonio, Alonza, Cleto, Elon, Espartaco, and Huberto. I have no uncles names Marcello.”

Antok removed a few documents from his briefcase and handed them over for Lance to look it. It looked like a family tree of some sort. “Your uncle was disowned by your grandparents when he was nineteen and your mother was eleven. According to Marcello, when he was alive he and your grandparents had a clash of religious beliefs which ended with Marcello leaving Cuba immigrating here. He had kept tabs on his family over the years to see how you have been going.”

“I see…” The family tree did look pretty legitimate. It had everyone in his family going back several generations. It even included his recent niece and nephew. “What do you think Hunk?”

His friend looked over the documents and nodded a little. “Well it does have a watermark on the paper… And everyone here is your family, right? No one you don’t know?”

“Yeah… I should check with mama that Marcello is actually her brother though…”

Kolivan nodded. “I know it is a little unbelievable, but I can assure you that Marcello is indeed your uncle, or at least was your uncle. We are simply here to carry out his final wishes and let you know that you have inherited a sizable chunk of his estate. Both in property and money.” He looked over at Antok.

Antok removed some more papers from his briefcase and put on his glasses. “I will give you a copy of the will to read over yourself but I will just skip to the parts that mainly pertain to you… Let’s see… Marcello requested all his stocks to be liquidated and to be divided amongst his youngest sister’s family. This includes children and extended family. That would be, roughly five hundred thousand per person when divided.” Hunk and Lance were stunned to say the least. Antok ignored their shock and continued to read. “Let’s see… His antique and collector cars are to be given to your parents and your older brothers.”

“... What kind of cars?” Asked Hunk.

Antok hummed a little and looked through the will. “Let’s see, three Rolls-Royce original vehicles. This includes the 20 hp, Silver Wraith, and Phantom V.”

Lance’s jaw dropped. “Holy crow, really?”

Antok nodded and continued. “To your older brothers they have been willed a Porsche 944 and Porsche 968 to be divided between them and used however they see fit.”

Hunk let out a gasp of shock. “Damn, those are some expensive cars.”

Antok hardly paid his surprise much attention and continued to read “To your sister’s he’s gifted a matching set of Alexandrite jewelry, both equal in value. This includes earrings, a necklace, three rings and a hair piece.”

“Real alexandrite?” Asked Lance in shock.

Antok nodded and looked back at the paper. “And finally, to the youngest of his sister’s children he’s left him the McCalin estate and all the contents within. With the proviso that if you wish to sell that you goes through the Maromora legal department. Apart from that the grounds can be used however you see fit.” Antok then handed over the will along with a few other documents and a key. “Please set an appointment to come into our office so we may start to transfer money into your bank account.”

“Please take your time in looking over everything.” Said Kolivan. “We hope that you will be in touch soon.” The duo left and Lance was left stunned at his newfound wealth.

***

The next week was filled with many, many phone conversations and trips down to the Marmora law firm. There were many questions for Lance’s mother about who Marcello was and why they didn’t know anything about him. She was pretty tightlipped on the whole situation, but she did acknowledge that her parents had disowned her older brother Marcello when she was younger. She never really understood why. 

All she remembered about him was a little quirky and odd. He didn’t believe in Catholicism and that really rubbed the family the wrong way. She remembered Marcello always getting into verbal fights with their parents and quoting the bible back at them whenever they used it to condemn what he was doing. After he spat back verses he’d laugh at them at say the bible was full of contradictions and they were fools that were simply believing things written by something far worse than the devil. Shortly after that he packed a backpack and left.

Lance and his siblings could understand that reasoning. Their grandparents were extremely old school and traditional when it came to religion and family values. Most of the McCalin children could only be around them for a few hours before their old view started to irk them all. They still loved them to no end, but they could be very oppression.

Eventually Lance got everything sorted out and he went to visit his new property. He went there with his friends Pidge and Hunk when they all had free time. The place was in the ridiculously snobbish part of town. It was the breeding grounds for Karens and Chads. It was where they popped out their entitled crotch goblins that acted like little shits.

“This place sucks.” Grumbled Pidge from the backseat. “Your uncle must have been a rich douchebag.”

Lance shrugged. “Probably.”

“Hey, don’t be mean to the guy.” Said Hunk. “The poor guy is dead.”

“That changes nothing.” Said Pidge. “You could make an entire eulogy about a guy that was a visionary that wanted to change the world, but his life was cut too short before his vision could be truly realised. We will miss you, Aldolf Hitler.”

Hunk sighed. “Fair point… It’s number four.”

“Got it.” Lance turned into the driveway for number four. The manor was huge. Had to be at least three stories tall with an attic and possibly a basement. It was on a ridiculously huge piece of land too. The trio looked around a little before Lance opened the door.

Pidge happily ran inside and started to look around. “Damn Lance, this place is huge! Hey, maybe we could start living here? Sure it’s a ten minute drive from campus, but the privacy is amazing… Remind me to hook you up with some good wifi. My brother knows some people.”

Lance chuckled a little and took his phone out. “Okay guys let’s split up and have a look around. Try not to get lost.” He took a few photos of his surroundings. “I’ll send you guys something if I find something cool.”

“Okay buddy.” Said Hunk as he walked down the hallway. He was probably going to take this floor. Pidge said she would take the top floor and quickly raced up, so Lance took the second floor and happily walked around. It quickly became apparent that his uncle was a fan of the more bizarre and disturbing art.

Lots of things he would have expected to find in something from a H.P Lovecraft novel or something David Cronenberg, or H.R Giger would have made. In fact, he was pretty sure that some of these might have been H.R Giger originals. He might need to consider getting them looked at.

The first room he entered happened to be a rather large personal library. Wall to wall books with dozens more not even placed on shelves but piled up instead. Lance picked up one of books and had a look through it… It was all in Latin. He didn’t know Latin. His uncle was weird. The whole library was pretty amazing anyway. Pidge would probably love looking through here.

He took a few photos and sent it Hunk and Pidge.

**Lance:**  
_Look what I found. Nerd food._

**Pidge:**  
_Eat shit and die._

**Lance:**  
_You sound grumpy Pidge. Maybe you need some nerd food? I got a whole library full of them._

**Hunk:**  
_Looks cool. I found the kitchen. If we’re going to stay the night we’ll need to get groceries._

**Lance:**  
_Lame._

**Pidge:**  
_I found lots of beds and some creepy looking junk in the study room. Lance your uncle was a creepy fuck. Wish I could have met him. Also, the fuck is this?_

Pidge sent a photo of a vent. It was metal and set in the wall. However there were lots of scratch marks on the metal and the surrounding stone wall and floor. The scratches looked like they were made by an animal about the size of a cat, but those weren’t cat scratches. Too big and deep.

**Hunk:**  
_Creepy._

**Lance:**  
_Freaky. My uncle was a weird guy. Keep an eye out for weird vents?_

For the rest of the afternoon, the group continued to walk around manor until they started to get a little hungry and headed down to the kitchen. With all the utilities still functioning, Hunk made a quick list of a few things he could cook up to eat for their dinner and breakfast in the morning. They had decided to at least stay the night in the manor because it was so spooky and strange.

While they were making dinner plans Pidge mentioned that old manor houses like this were bound to have lots of wine in the basement somewhere. That sparked Lance’s interest and he willingly gave Hunk his keys and sent both he and Pidge away so he can explore the basement for booze on his own. He didn’t trust Pidge not to run off with some booze she found interesting.

***

It took Lance a few minutes before he found the basement, and with thoughts of a possible wine cellar on the table, Lance walked down the steps. The basement was freezing cold as he kind of expected. There were a few boxes and crates stacked up everywhere, but no actual wine. Which was kind of a let down, but the lighting down here was just two shitty light bulbs that looked like they were seconds away from exploding.

He looked around a crate and saw something that made him raise an eyebrow. A large wooden door. Perhaps this was a wine cellar? That made sense right? Keep the wine stored away from all the personal property in case of a spillage or something, right?

It took a little bit of force but Lance was able to push the door open and look inside. One wall was covered in books, bottle and animal skulls, a podium with an open book was placed over the other side of the room, and painted on the ground was a giant pentagram that took up most of the room. There were dozens of melted candles in the colours black, white and red. Probably the only actual light sources in the room since there was no actual light bulb in there.

“... Alright then.” It seemed as though his uncle was probably into black magic or some garbage like that. It would explain why his very Catholic family had disowned him.

In all honesty he probably should have just closed the door and not gone back in, but he was curious. Besides, he didn’t actually believe in any of that stuff anyway. That was more of his parents and grandparents thing anyway. He wasn’t as superstitious.

So Lance had no real worry about walking around the dark room to look at everything there with the air of his phone acting as a flashlight. The things on the bookshelf were interesting enough to look at, but then he ventured towards the book on the podium to see what it was.

He couldn’t understand what the language was that was written in the book but for some reason he tried to pronounce some of the words. _“Corruptio… foeda… iudicabit auferte… mundat… animam… meam?”_ That sounded like it might have been Latin. He went to flip the page but ended up slicing his finger on the edge. Was the paper made from razors or something. “Shit!”

Lance shook his hand a few times and closed the book. He’d deal with this later. Right now he should probably go and find a band aid or a paper towel. He continued to shake his hand, like that would get rid of the sting. When he was halfway across the room it started to become illuminated with a dull red glow, which stopped Lance dead in his tracks.

He looked down at the pentagram he was walking across and internally screamed when he saw that it was lighting up and rapidly getting brighter and brighter. Without thinking Lance jumped out of the circle as fast as he could and hit the stone floor. It was just in time too. There was a blinding light that consumed the room for a few seconds.

When the light went out all the candles in the room were lit and there was something in the middle of the pentagram. It looked like a person. They had porcelain white skin and their long hair was black, but seemed to have a slight purple tinge to it, giving it another worldly look to it. 

As Lance got a little closer he noticed a few other things about this creature. It was definitely a male and looked very pretty. Its nails and were more like talons and its hands and feel looked dirty compared to the rest of its body. On hits head seemed to be broken twigs jutting out at random places, but from the way they were placed on its head they looked like broken horns. The only other object on this thing seemed to be a knife it had wrapped securely around its upper arm

“What the fuck are you?” Muttered Lance. It didn’t take long for Lance to realise that he might have just summoned a demon. No scratch that, he did. He did summon a demon. “Fuck… Oh fuck… This is bad. This is so bad…” He paced around the room wondering what he was meant to do now. Trust him to do something stupid and summon a demon.

After a few minutes of freaking out he felt like eyes were on him and he looked back at the demon laying on the floor. Its eyes were open, the whites of his eyes were bright yellow, and he was watching him curiously. 

Lance was internally screaming. He had no idea what this demon was or why it was here. It could be here to kill him for all he knew. Fucking demon bastards. Maybe it was just waiting for the right moment to attack.

He watched as the demon calmly stretched and yawned, showing off its unnatural and grotesque looking fangs. It slowly sat up and continued to watch Lance standing there, watching him. Lance was shocked at how pretty this thing looked. He looked like a doll. He gulped.

The thing seemed to be amused by the obvious fear that was radiating from Lance’s body. The thing smiled sweetly at him. “You called?”

“I um… Wa?” Lance could hardly string two words together. This thing talked to him. Actually talked to him. “Aaaaaaaaa…”

The thing chuckled and happily stood up, running his hand through its hair with a smug look on its face. It gave Lance a full frontal view of his body, and damn this demon looked hot and wasn’t afraid to flaunt it. “Cat got your tongue there?” It asked as it locked its eyes with Lance. Instantly a chill ran down Lance’s spine and made his heart race. “Come on child of man. Tell me what your name is.”

Lance felt like he should tell them what his name was, but at the same time he felt like that was a bad idea. He fought back against what he was compelled to do and what he should do.“... W-what’s your name?”

Saying that seemed to surprise this demon and for a moment it looked like he had no idea what to do now. “I asked you first?”

“I asked you second.”

The creature pouted and crossed its arms. “Look, you called me here I have every right to ask you who you are.”

“And I have the right to know what weird ass demon I accidentally booty called.” Lance was pretty sure he was going to get killed at this point for running his mouth at a demon thing. But he was not smart when he panicked.

The demon rolled its eyes. “Keith.” It said. “My name is Keith. You?”

“... Lance.”

Keith nodded and took a deep breath as he quickly regained his composure. “Okay. Lance… So Lance… Can you tell me why you summoned me?” He stepped out of the pentagram, which made Lance jump back in shock and hit the wall. 

“Y-you shouldn’t be able to do that!” He snapped. “You’re meant to stay in the circle!”

Keith frowned and looked over to the pentagram. “... That isn’t for keeping things locked in.”

“Huh?”

“It’s for calling people like me. You say the phrase and pour blood on my sigile to call me.” Keith walked over to the circle and pointed to a smaller circle down carved inside the pentagram. It had a few drops of blood on it. 

“...” It was at that point, Lance knew he had fucked up. “Whoa, this was totally an accident. You can head on home. Just take your naked demon butt back to whatever realm I accidentally pulled you from. You obviously were in the middle of a nap or something?”

The demon frowned a little and crossed his arms. He looked a little annoyed. “Um, okay. Listen. This is not how this works. You summoned me. I have to perform a task, and then you have to send me back. Those are the rules. How do you not know the rules.”

“Because I summoned you by accident! I just told you that!” Screeched Lance. “Calling you here was an accident!”

Keith looked at Lance like he was an idiot and sighed sadly. “Okay. Alright… I can work with this… This is Earth, right?”

“... Yes? Where else would it be?”

Keith ignored him and started to pace around the room. “Okay. That’s good. I actually need to be here anyway… Okay I can work with this…” He looked over at Lance and locked eyes with him. Instantly Lance felt that weird chill and pull in the back of his mind. “Lance… I’m kind of contractually obliged by literal blood magic to um… service you if you can understand that meaning.”

“...” It was at that moment Lance realised that he might have summoned a succubus or some kind of sex demon… But there were technically so many different kinds. There were the ones that just wanted sperm, some that would eat hearts, some that would completely suck the life out of someone and leave them for dead. Lance didn’t want to risk dying just to get his dick wet. “Thanks but no thanks. Let’s think of something else you can do.”

Keith looked confused for a moment, but his confusion quickly turned to anger. “Hey! You summoned me for this! You can’t just fucking reject me like that! You have any idea who you are messing with?” He slammed his hand into the wall next to Lance’s head and dug his nails in. “If you didn’t want this you wouldn’t have summoned me. You’re lucky I got dropped here and not someone else. Your body would have painted his room by now if you had told them you summoned them by accident.”

Lance was internally screaming. He had to get out of this situation. How the hell was he meant to do this? What could he do? Lance did what he normally did in these situations. He grabbed Keith by the shoulders and kicked him as hard as he could in the dick. When he doubled over in pain Lance grabbed him by the hair and kneed him in the face.

Keith fell over with a stunned look on his face. Blood was gushing out of his face and he lightly touched his bloody nose. “... You broke my nose.” He said quietly. “You broke… my nose…” Suddenly his eyes lit up with rage as an otherworldly growl ripped through his throat. “YOU BROKE MY FUCKING NOSE YOU LITTLE SHIT! I’LL FUCKING KILL YOU!”

Lance screeched and dived for the open door, quickly slammed it shut. Still running on adrenaline Lance started shoving boxes of stuff in front of the door like his life depended on it, which it probably did.

Keith started pounding and pushing on the door, trying to force it open. “FUCK YOU LANCE! FUCK YOU! GET BACK IN HERE AND FIGHT ME! FUCKING FIGHT ME YOU BITCH! I WILL FUCKING BITE YOU!”

Lance had heard enough. He turned and bolted up the steps, slamming the basement door behind him. He opted to wait outside for his friends to tell them what happened. Actually he should call them. He reached into his pockets to grab it, but then he realised that he dropped it inside somewhere in the house. The house with the demon in it. The house with the very, very angry demon in it. The very angry demon that was going to murder him.

Lance needed to contact a priest or get a bunch of salt.


	2. More questions than answers

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Probably could have split this into two chapters but nah. Bit of gore and some uncomfortable implications about a random throw away character near the end (literally just a random character made just to die but whatever consider this a warning? idk). Kudos and comment when you can. Enjoy :D

Lance was basically ten seconds away from just running down the driveway and never coming back when Hunk and Pidge finally came back with some groceries. They were confused as to why Lance was outside and he tried to explain why he was outside and why they had to get the hell out of there right that second.

Needless to say they didn’t believe him. “Right sure.” Siad Pidge. “You summoned a naked demon guy that you kneed in the balls after it tried to suck your dick and now it wants to kill you. Did you get drunk on something while we were out?”

“I didn’t get drunk!” Snapped Lance. “We gotta go! We gotta go now before it escapes and kills us all! Mostly me! I’m too young and rich to die! I only just became rich! I haven’t had time to do something stupid with it!”

Pidge rolled her eyes and walked inside. “Whatever loser. Get in here and eat some pizza.”

Lance made a small squealing nose and ran back in after her. “Wait Pidge! You really shouldn’t go back in there!”

Hunk sighed and walked past Lance with the groceries. “Seriously Lance? I know this place is creepy, but really?”

“But it’s here! Listen you can hear it!”

“I can’t hear anything over my stomach rumbling.” Whined Pidge

Hunk frowned a little as he made his way to the kitchen. “If you did summon a demon then you could just show us it, right?”

“Excellent idea!” Said Pidge. She headed in the direction of the basement with Hunk following behind her. Lance internally screamed again and quickly followed them. As much as he didn’t want to go down there he didn’t want his friends to get killed if Keith gets out.

When the trio got to the bottom of the steps there was a very distinct scratching sound coming from the back of the basement. Hunk and Pidge shared a look and cautiously proceeded. Lance stuck to the back of the group. He managed to kick his phone along the ground and he quickly picked it up. The screen wasn’t cracked so that was good.

Suddenly Hunk yelped in shock. Lance quickly went to see what he was looking at and was surprised to see Keith’s arm sticking through a vent near the blocked off door. It was probably exposed when Lance moved the boxes in front of the door.

“Holy shit!” Said Pidge. “You actually did summon a demon? Holy crap!”

Keith quickly pulled his arm back inside and looked out at them, squinting a little until he caught sight of Lance. “You… I am going to kill you.”

Lance gulped and hid behind a shelf. “You heard it! It wants to kill me! Let’s get out of here!”

Keith stuck his arm out of the vent and flipped Lance off. “Fuck you! You’re the asshole that summoned me here. You kneed me in the dick and broke my nose!”

“... No wonder you pissed them off.” Muttered Pidge. “You kicked him in the dick.”

“And broke my nose!”

“And broke his nose.”

“Stop acting so fucking calm!” Squeaked Lance. “I summoned a succubus thing!”

“I’M NOT A SUCCUBUS YOU VITAMIN D DEFICIENT ROCK!” Snapped Keith.

“YOU’RE NAKED!”

“I DON’T LIVE AROUND ANIMALS BIG ENOUGH FOR ME TO MAKE LEATHER YOU DUMB ASS! PLUS IT’S REALLY HOT WHERE I AM! WHY THE FUCK WOULD I WEAR CLOTHES JUST TO OVERHEAT? IT’S FUCKING FREEZING HERE!”

“... Do you want some clothes?” Asked Hunk cautiously.

“... Yeah.”

Hunk quickly looked around the basement and cautiously tossed the first thing he found at Keith, which happened to be a blanket. He quickly grabbed it and pulled it through the vent. The trio heard a bit of rustling along with a content sigh.

“You all good in there buddy?” Asked Hunk.

“Yeah.” Said Keith quietly. “Um… Can you guys let me out now? I promise I won’t kill any of you.”

“Even Lance?” Asked Pidge.

“... He I might kill a little.”

“HEY!”

“If you kill him you’re going back in the room.” Said Pidge.

“Fine I won’t go near him.” Huffed Keith. “... I just want to get out of this room.”

Pidge looked at the others and they quickly huddled up. “Should we let him out?” She whispered.

“No freaking way!” Hissed Lance. “He’s a freaking demon! Demon’s are bad! Also, he wants to kill me. Do you really want to risk it?”

“To be fair you did assault him.” Reminded Pidge. “... What if we get some salt? Would salt work?”

“I did get some rocksalt when we were at the store...” Said Hunk. “Look, I am on the fence. Like, for all we know it could actually be friendly and Lance just really upset it. Maybe it’s not all that bad?”

“I vote we let it out.” Said Pidge. “It’s a freaking demon. This is huge!”

“No keep him in there.” Said Lance. “He’s going to kill me!”

“...” Hunk sighed and went to get the rocksalt.

***

Once everyone was armed with rocksalt they carefully moved the crates away from the door Keith cautiously walked out and looked at the three humans staring at him. Keith frowned at them and sniffed the air. They were all giving off a nervous scent. Not that he could blame them.

For the most part he decided to ignore them and keep his distance from them as he walked around the basement. The whole place, even though it was kind of musty had a very familiar smell. Though he wasn’t too sure he could place it.

“... This place.” He said. Where is it?”

“Technically it’s Lance’s house.” Said Pidge.

Lance jumped a little. “W-well yeah. But before that it belonged to my uncle… Marcello.”

That name rang a bell with Keith. “Marcello… As in Marcello McCalin? You’re his nephew?”

Lance nodded hesitantly. “Yeah… Is that an issue?”

“... Did he die?” 

“Yeah.”

“I see…” Keith quickly exited the basement and made his way to a broom closet on the first floor. If he remembered correctly this was where Marcello kept spare clothes for his unexpected guests. He quickly found a pair of pants and a shirt that fit well enough on his body. He even grabbed an empty backpack and stuffed a few extra clothes in there for good measure.

“What are you doing?” Asked Pidge.

Keith shrugged. “Well, since Lance accidentally summoned me here and doesn’t know how to send me back, I’m going to go and find my littermate.”

“Your what now?”

“... Um… Human word… human word… brother.” That sounded like the right word. “My brother is missing somewhere in the human world and getting summoned here is easier than trying to slip through a crack.”

“Fuck there’s more of you out there?” Asked Lance in an exasperated manner.

“Okay, time out everyone!” Said Hunk loudly in a slightly authoritative voice.. “I think we all need to all sit down and have a talk about what is going on.”

Keith frowned. “Why? As far as I see it, none of you have anything I want and you don’t even know how to hurt me. therefore nothing you can do will make me talk. Also, that salt you’re holding? I spent a year in a cave made out of salt. That does nothing.”

Pidge swore under her breath and sighed. “Okay. So what about this instead, you said you were looking for your brother, right? When was the last time you were on Earth? How about we help you navigate Earth and you answer a few questions for us?”

“You serious Pidge?” Hissed Lance. “How are you two okay with all of this? What the fuck is going on? I summon a demon and almost get killed and you all want to interrogate it and not set the fucker on fire? The fuck?”

Keith rolled his eyes. Clearly Lance knew fuck all about Marcello and what he used to do here. Maybe he should at least let them know what Marcello actually did. They would probably need to know about it if they didn’t want to suddenly die. Plus any information he could get was going to be invaluable.

“Okay. Where do you want to do this?” Asked Keith. “Sitting room? Office? What?”

“Whichever one had the most chairs.” Said Pidge.

The group made their way to the dining room and sat down. Keith leaned forward and tapped his talons together. “Okay. What do you want to know?”

“Who was Marcello?” Asked Pidge.

Keith frowned slightly. Sure he knew who Marcello was, but he didn’t really too much about him. He was tiny when he first saw met him. “The McCalin estate is well known through the magic community as neutral ground. Regardless of alignment or coven anyone can come here for help. As far as I am aware Marcello worked as a magic pawn shop mostly? He’d store, trade, and sell magic items to whoever wanted it.”

“Fucking serious?” Asked Lance. “My uncle was into weird magic crap? Holy shit…”

“So… Does that mean Lance is now the owner of this magic pawn shop?” Asked Hunk.

“What?! No!” Squawked Lance.

Keith shrugged. “I guess it’s possible. I have no idea how passing over magical shops work. I literally only came here when I was having teething issues as a kit. You know, a kid.”

“So your parents brought you here?” Asked Pidge.

Keith nodded. “Yeah. My sar and dar brought me here.” Noticing their confusion he clarified. “Mum and dad. Sar is mum and dar is dad… When my fangs first came in I had a habit of chewing anything put in front of my face, alive or dead… It wasn’t a good time.”

“So what do you want to know about earth?”

“Um…” There were a few things that Keith needed to know. Basic geographical locations for starters. He needed to know what was in the area and if he could contact a few people his parents knew from the human realm… But there was a high chance they could all be dead by now. His stomach started to rumble. Food. He needed food first. But he couldn’t just say what he wanted to eat. His father had told him how humans could be disgusted by what they eat. “Is there any place where there are large gatherings of children? The younger the better.”

Lance gave him a suspicious look. “You mean like a school or a preschool? Oh my god you eat kids?”

“What?”

“It’s a fucking kid eater.”

“No!”

“I summoned a child eating demon!”

“... Does that thing ever shut up?” Keith asked Pidge and Hunk. He decided he liked that he liked those two a lot more than Lance. These two seemed to have a brain cell or two to rub together.

“He’s gonna be ranting like that for a while.” Said Hunk. “But can you explain why you want to know where children are gathering?”

“Because my food is attracted to small helpless creatures.” Informed Keith. “It always lingers around the innocent and to be honest, it’s just fun to hunt down my food… But I’ll spare you the gory details. I don’t eat kids.”

Pidge nodded and seemed to be making some mental notes. “Okay, eating habits aside, you said you were looking for your brother right? Why would he be here on Earth in the first place?”

Keith wasn’t too sure he should be sharing this information with anyone else. It was his brother’s personal life after all. He just shrugged and gave a vague answer. “In terms of human history… He’s been coming here since about what you call the fifteenth century. What he does here is anyone’s guess, but he manages to crawl here without getting summoned like it’s nothing and comes back when he is ready… But he kind of just vanished one day without warning… He doesn’t just vanish without telling me first…”

“Do you know if he’s even in this area?” Asked Hunk.

Keith shrugged. “Not a clue. I need to start looking for him as soon as possible… So I guess I’ll take my leave now.” He went to stand up and the humans looked very surprised, if not a little alarmed.

“Wait!” Said Pidge. “You’re just going to leave? Just like that?”

“Yeah? Lance is an idiot and doesn't even know what I do. Read a fucking book. Also, he has no idea how to send me back. Again, read a fucking book. It’ll take me awhile to find my brother so I’ll probably end up coming back here to sleep from time to time.” He picked up his backpack, slung it over his shoulder and started to walk to the front door. The trio quickly followed him.

“Wait, are demons and shit going to start to turn up on my front door now?” Asked Lance.

Keith shrugged. “Probably.”

“What am I meant to do?” Squawked Lance. “I don’t know shit about demons and magic!”

“Sounds like a you problem to me.” Keith walked outside and took a deep breath. It had been far too long since he was on Earth. “Well, good luck you three. Try not to summon anything that will suck your bones out through your fingernails or turn you inside out.” He gave them a quick wave and quickly ran down the long driveway before they could say anything else to him, though he could still hear Lance yelling at him.

***

“GET YOUR WHITE TWINK ASS BACK HERE!” Yelled Lance as Keith ran off onto the night. “I’LL SUMMON YOU RIGHT BACK HERE DAMN IT!”

“He’s gone Lance.” Said Pidge.

“I know…” He muttered.

Hunk frowned a little as he looked around the house. “So… This place isn’t safe at all?”

Pidge shrugged. “Considering that Lance was the one that fucked up and summoned some kind of weird because he was stupid, I think we are safe. Nothing should happen to us providing we don’t go into the basement and don’t fuck with anything… But maybe we should consider reading a book like Keith mentioned?”

Lance could see that logic. The house was kind of creepy but nothing had happened until he fucked up. “Okay… We should see if there is a book in the library about how to undo summoning demons. Fuck, I wish there was someone I could talk to about all this weird shit!”

“... Oh there is!” Said Hunk. “Remember the will? You can talk to the people at Marmora lawyers. Like, maybe they can help out or something?”

“What do lawyers know about demons?” Asked Pidge. “Besides, it’s late. They’re closed. You’ll have to call in the morning.”

Lance nodded in agreement. “Okay, food first, then coffee and demon studying in the library. Then we call Marmora in the morning. Agreed?”

“Agreed.”

***

It didn’t take Keith too long to find himself in the suburbs. He sniffed the air trying to find the scent of something he could eat. It was surprisingly difficult. He thought it would have been easy, but apparently no. He was about to give up and just go into the city when the wind picked up and he smelled something that made him drool.

Like a bloodhound he followed the followed the scent. He passed by a preschool and a sports field that looked like it was used for some children’s sports events. Perfect. The scent of his food was very strong around this place. It wouldn’t be too hard to find them now.

His wandering eventually lead him to a house. He stood there for a few moments as he sniffed the air. There was just his food inside. Now the hunt was on. He walked to the vacant lot directly across from the house and crouched behind some tiers. He needed to remember what he had been taught about catching his food. 

He was impulsive and made rash decisions. Things that both his dar and littermate told him to stop doing. He needed to be patient and focus. If he was patient he could focus. Patience yields focus as his littermate used to say to him. He sighed and looked through his backpack. He pulled out a blue shirt that was much too small for him to wear, but for his purposes it was perfect.

He rubbed it in the dirt a few times to make it look all roughed up. Once that was done he rubbed some dirt on his face and arms. Enough to look a little roughed up, but not enough to cause anyone too much worry. But now was the more annoying part. He gritted his teeth in pain as he forced his body to shrink and get small again. It started with all his joints popping out of place and forcibly ramming together tighter. Than any bones too long to shrink fractured with a sick crack as they halved themselves and slid next to others. His muscles ripped, tore, and rapidly repaired to hold everything in place. Then he felt all his internal organs crying out in pain as they shrank and folded over to to accommodate for his new size. 

Once the pain subsided he looked like a small child of about six or seven. He stuffed the clothes he had been previously wearing into the backpack and pulled on the dirty blue shirt.It came down to just above his knees. Once he was satisfied with his look he quickly looked around to make sure that no one would see him and try to grab him and take him to the police. It would have been annoying to get out of that. It was late at night anyway so there weren’t any people that might see him and try to interact him before he had completed his goal.

He quickly ran back across the street and went up to the door, quickly ringing the doorbell. As he waited he bit his tongue so his eyes would water a little. Then to complete the totally pathetic child look he nervously grabbed a handful of the shirt.

When the door opened a portly middle aged gentleman opened the door and looked down at him, the only thing registering on his face was shock. “H-hello?” He stammered.

Keith instantly turned on the water works and loosely repeated the words he knew would get him inside. “M-my daddy yelled at me and m-made me leave! H-he didn’t want me around when he brings his girlfriends over.” He sobbed. “I-I want my mummy!”

“Hey, it’s okay come in. Don’t cry.” The man quickly ushered Keith inside. Once they were inside Keith heard the man locking the door several times. Good. It would take a while for anything to escape. The man lead Keith into the lounge room and sat him on the couch. “Let’s calm you down first. Do you like juice? I’ll get you some juice.”

The man quickly left and Keith was able to look around. Lots of photos of this man with different groups of small children. There were a few other things like baseballs, gloves, and bats in cases and on display. He also spied a cup on the table. It was half filled with some kind of carbonated drink. The man must have been drinking from this.

When the man came back he gave Keith some tissues and a cup of orange juice. “Are you okay kiddo?” They asked. “Do you know your mum’s phone number?”

Keith nodded and continued to play up his crocodile tears. “M-mummy lives far away. I don’t know if she will be home right now. Mummy works late.”

“Are your parents divorced?”

Keith nodded. “Y-yeah. Daddy was doing things with another lady that wasn’t mummy and I saw it. I got scared at told mummy… Then mummy and daddy fought a lot...” 

“I see… So no one knows where you are right now, do that?”

Keith shook his head. “N-no. I want my mummy...” He moved slightly and let some of the organs in his body expand slightly, making a groaning noise. Kind of like his stomach was growling. He sniffled again and sobbed some more. “Daddy d-didn’t feed me today…”

“I’ll get you something to eat. Are you allergic to peanut butter?” He asked.

Keith shook his head. “I like peanut butter.”

“Okay. I’ll be back in a moment.” He left the room again and Keith spat in the man’s drink. For a brief moment the drink went green before it went back to its original brown, almost black colour. He sat back down and patiently waited for the man to come back. “Here you go kid.” He offered Keith a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

He took it and took a big bite. His taste buds were more sensitive than that of a human. He could taste the bitter pills that this man had tried to mask. Something that would make him sick, but not do whatever this man thought it would. Still, he needed to play along.

“Thank you Mister.”

The man smiled at him and picked up his own drink, happily taking a few mouthfuls. “Call me Coach… And what do they call you?”

“Keith. My name is Keith.”

Coach nodded and started to cough. “Keith… Keep eating.”

Keith shrugged and took a few more bites before Coach started to have another coughing fit. Keith ignored him for the most part and put the sandwich down to drink his juice. He only paid the man a bit of attention when he started to seize up and go into a state that looked like rigamortis. 

“What’s wrong Coach?” Asked Keith in a mocking tone. “You can drug little kids but you can’t handle getting drugged yourself? How pathetic.” He stood up and happily dusted some crumbs off himself. “I’ll be back in a second. Don’t go anywhere.”

Keith took his time to explore the house and gather a few supplies and things he found interesting around the house. After about half an hour of looking he came back to the man with several zip ties and a box of incriminating Polaroids. He sat on the coffee table and looked at the man. His eyes were still moving around as he followed Keith around, unable to move. Completely locked out of his body.

“Pretty scary huh? Being unable to move and at the complete mercy of someone stronger than you… Granted I don’t look nearly as intimidating now, but to be fair. You don’t go after the intimidating.” He took off the shirt and grunted as his bones and muscles snapped back into their proper positions. 

If Coach didn’t look horrified before he was now. Keith just smiled and started to wrap the zip ties around his limbs and pulled tightly. Tight enough that the skin started to bruise. To be fair he didn’t really need to do this, but he didn’t want to deal with so much blood so soon.

“Now, you might be wondering why this is happening to you of all people. Then again with your life choices you know why you’re in this predicament.” He started ripping the Coach’s shirt off and discarded it on the floor. “I hope you know that I don’t really have anything against you. All your negativity, or sin as some call it, has just seasoned your meat. It’s just your luck that you invited a something that cleanses sin by eating it.”

He took a firm grip of the man’s arm with one hand and started to run his talons across the soft flesh just under the zip tie. His talons cut through the muscle and fat like a hot knife through butter. It took a little more effort to snap through the bone, But it made a satisfying crack when it did.

Keith wasted no time digging into the fresh meat. It didn’t care how messy he was or how much blood he got everywhere. He threw the arm over his shoulder while there were still large bits of meat on it and started to work on amputating a leg. He wasn’t too sure how long this was going to finish this, but he was hungry. Once he finished eating he could actually start his search for his brother. He needed to find Shiro.


	3. The safe

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone glad to hear overwhelming support for Keith's dietary choices from the last chapter XD
> 
> Kudos and comment when you can. Enjoy :D

_Breaking news, a man has been found dead in his home this morning. Mr Danvers was a pillar of the community that coached the local under tens boy’s baseball. He will be greatly missed by the community. _

_“I don’t know why anyone would hurt him. He was a great guy. Always looking out for the kids. You’d never find a nicer man. He’s one of the good ones.”_

_“I have no idea what happened. Didn’t see anyone or hear anything. Just horrible what happened to him… Just horrible… No one deserves to go out like that… No one does...”_

_The police have canvassed the surrounding area and have have found evidence of an unidentified child possibly present in the home during the time or shortly after the murder. If you have any information please contact the information hotline at-_

***

“Lance!” Called the girl behind the counter. Lance jumped a little and quickly grabbed his order of six coffees, six doughnuts, and six toasted sandwiches. He was the one was on the breakfast run today. He quickly sped back to the McCalin estate to deliver the goods. They had been going over every book in the library to try and find something, anything to figure out what Keith was and how to shove him back to where he came from. All of it was written in old languages that none of them knew, so it was slow going.

When Lance walked back into the library Pidge grabbed a coffee and a doughnut. “Man, why is one page of this in Hebrew and then the next in Arabic? I can’t read this! I am an illiterate white child!” She quickly downed half her coffee. “Sweet nectar of the gods… I feel like my eyes are bleeding…”

“I’m not having much luck either.” Muttered Hunk. “My head is killing me…”

Lance sat down on the floor and drank his coffee. “Me too… Fuck…” He took out the business card for Marmora lawyers and noticed that it was around time for them to be able to call in. He sighed and called. He got the receptionist he had dealt with while trying to get the will sorted out.

_“Marmora Lawyers, Amanda speaking, how may I help you?”_

“Hi, um, this is Lance McCalin. I recently inherited my uncle’s estate and you guys handled it? Can I possibly speak to the lawyers who handled it?”

_“... Oh, of course… Please hold for a moment.”_ She put him on hold. Less than a minute later he was transferred to a man with a deep voice.

_“Kolivan speaking. This is Lance McCalin, correct?”_

“Yep. That’s me. So um, listen… There is some really, really weird stuff going on here and I um… did my uncle talk about any of this with you?”

_“Did you go into the basement?”_

“Yeah?”

Kolivan sighed heavily. _“Antok and I will be over shortly. Please do not touch anything. I assume you are at the estate now? If not could you please meet us there.”_ After that he hung up and Lance was kind of left stunned.

“What’s going on?” Asked Hunk.

“Um, big scary guys are coming by I think? Fuck I need some sleep…”

“Don’t we all…” Grumbled Pidge as she lied down on the carpet. “Sweet death embrace me already…”

The trio attempted to keep researching till Kolivan and Antok arrived, but they were all tired and kind of stressed. They all practically screamed when they heard a huge bell ringing through the house. But they quickly realised that it was the doorbell and Lance went to answer it. He was relieved to see that it was Kolivan and Antok.

“H-hey. Come on in.”

Kolivan and Antok walked in and greeted him. Well, at least Kolivan did. “It’s good to see you again Mr McCalin. We didn’t expect you to call us back so soon.”

“Y-yeah… How well did you know my uncle?”

The two men shared a look. “So you went down to the basement and what happened?”

Lance chuckled nervously. “Um… you probably won’t believe this, but Marcello, he um… He was really into blackmagic or something and um… I found some kind of magic circle thing and I might have bled in it and some stuff happened and um… Yeah… I know this is going to sound crazy but um… I might have, kind of, maybe, perhaps-”

Antok cut him off. “What was their name.”

Lance was surprised that they seemed to believe he summoned something. “Keith.”

Both men seemed to relax a little when Lance said that. Kolivan even smiled slightly. Which was probably the first time he’d seen the stone faced man smile. “Okay. Could have been worse. Where is Keith now?”

“Wait, time out. You know about Keith? You know my uncle was some weird wizard type guy?”

“Let’s take this up in the office.” Said Antok in a calm tone.

“Hey! Are those the guys?!” Called Pidge from the top of the stairs. Her presence seemed to catch the men off guard.

“How many people are here?” Asked Antok.

“Um, just me and two of my friends.” Said Lance. “Is that a problem?”

The two men quickly looked at each other and seemed to share an entire conversation with each other before they both sighed in mild annoyance. “It’s okay.” Said Kolivan. “We would have preferred to just talk to you about this, but it could be worse. Let’s go to the office.”

Pidge and Lance quickly followed the two men to the office. They passed the library and got Hunk who was still drinking his coffee. Hunk, the nice guy that he was, offered the two Marmora lawyers doughnuts, but they declined.

When they got to the office, Kolivan took a seat at the desk while Antok stood by him, more like a butler or bodyguard. They looked extremely intimidating. Kind of like he was some kind of mafia boss. Lance reluctantly sat in the chair across from the desk while Pidge and Hunk kind of stood awkwardly a little bit away from him.

“So you summoned Keith?” Asked Kolivan.

Lance nodded.

“And where is Keith now?”

“He um… He kind of just left?”

Both men looked annoyed.

“Was that a bad thing?”

“Not necessarily bad, just kind of annoyance because of his eating habits.” Said Kolivan. “Compared to other demons he is kind of noticeable.”

“How do you know about Keith?” Asked Pidge. “Clearly you guys have encountered him before and know about demons… You aren’t normal lawyers are you?”

“Obviously.” Muttered Antok.

Kolivan nodded and smiled slightly. “Yes. To cut a long story short, Marmora lawyers is a front. We are a coven of witches that have been in operation for centuries. Our main objective is to monitor and regulate demons activity within our region. We work with the legal system to ensure we are able to get our hands on magic items that are dangerous so we can contain them and keep them locked away for the safety of the rest of the world. We also do actual legal work since we actually do employ actual lawyers.”

Lance nodded a little. “So… my uncle was part of your Marmora coven thing?”

Kolivan shook his head. “No. Marcello was more of a contracted worker. He wasn’t a witch. He was a warlock. He wasn’t part of any coven and performed magic on his own for his own reasons and goals. We employed him to help keep some more of our dangerous items out of the hands of other covens that would use them regardless of the moral and physical ramifications.”

“Can we go back a second and get back to Keith?” Asked Hunk. “What kind of demon is he? How do you know about him?”

“Keith’s demon class has a few names, but the most colloquial name would be sin-eater.” Informed Antok. “Sin-eaters are drawn to extremely vile and unforgivable individuals. They have an insatiable desire to consume sinners. Murderers, rapists, and pedophiles are on the top of their lists when it comes to food, but they will go after people who are gluttonous, greedy, prideful, lazy, and envious. They all have their prefered sins that they find more desirable and Keith has a tendency to find and eat those who have committed acts of sexual violence.”

“Which can be troublesome for us.” Said Kolivan. “While we do not particularly mind Keith doing what he does, he would literally turn any jail he gets thrown into, if caught by the police, into a literal bloodbath. So we would rather know where he is at all times so we are able to cover up his involvement in his unfortunate eating habits.”

Pidge’s eyes lit up. “Oh! So that’s why he wanted to find preschools and schools in general. He was trying to find peadophiles. Well, at least you didn’t summon a child eating demon. If anything you summoned a fucked up guardian angel thing.”

“But how do you know about him?” Asked Hunk. “How did you actually meet him? Did Marcello summon him suddenly or like, what?”

“Keith’s mother is the manager of our HR department.” Said Kolivan. That caught everyone off guard slightly. That probably meant that Keith was half human? This was so weird. “She has been part of our coven for many years. We will inform her that Keith is back once we are back at the office. She will probably take the rest of the week off to track him down and find him.”

“Okay…” Said Lance slowly. “So where does that leave us? Like, what now? What am I meant to do?”

Antok shrugged. “I would suggest we start you on the same weekly rate that we gave Marcello and we modify it from there.”

“Wait, what?”

“That seems fair.” Said Kolivan. “We can draw up a contract and get things underway.”

Lance was freaking out now. “Now freaking way! Time out here! Hold the phone! I’m not signing anything! I just wanna know how to send Keith back! I’m still going to school!”

Antok shrugged. “Drop out. We’ll be paying you more than enough to store magic items to live comfortably. Plus you have already shown you have magic potential. You did summon Keith, though you have no idea where he went… Baby steps I guess?”

Lance was internally freaking out again. The combination of being sleep deprived and the stress of everything that just happened was quickly catching up with him. “Um, no? I have things I want to do with my life. I’m not going to do that.”

The two men seemed a little frustrated when he said that, but Kolivan easily composed himself. “Okay. That is your choice to make. I understand that it is very frustrating and absurd to hear so early in the morning… and you three obviously need to get some sleep.” Kolivan stood up and put his briefcase on the table. He opened it up and put a red wood box on the table. “Think things over after you have had some sleep. When you are ready to accept the fact you are a warlock you can open the box and take what’s inside. Until then, don’t. Also, stay out of the basement. Everywhere else is perfectly harmless to you.”

The men then left the place and Lance let out a frustrated groan as he slid off the chair. “Aaaaaaaaaaaaa…” He groaned.

Hunk yawned and rubbed his eyes. “Okay, I think we all need to sleep… We actually have classes tomorrow…”

“Shit we do.” Muttered Pidge. “This is so fucking weird… Fuck it. I’m finding a guest room.”

“Why aren’t you guys freaking out about this?” Asked Lance in shock. “Like, magic and wizard and junk! Holy fuck!”

Hunk nodded and patted Lance’s shoulder. “Buddy, to be fair we are too tired to deal with this. Sleep first and then we can worry about all of this. I know I’ll probably panic once I’m well rested.”

“Okay, fair enough.”

***

Long story short, Keith was vomiting in a public bathroom. Blood, bone and muscle all fell out into the bowl. Whatever drug that creep had tried to drug him with had finally kicked in and made him sick. It sucked, but it wasn’t the worst sickness he had ever felt. He flushed away what he could and went to was his face and hands. 

Now that he was full, kind of, he needed to go and Shiro. Though there was just one problem… He had no idea where the hell he was meant to find him. Shiro never had a favourite place he liked to visit when he was in the human world. Shiro only said he liked quiet places that didn’t have a lot of people. Where the hell would that be?

Also, Shiro kind of carried around something with him at all times that was probably frowned upon in the human world. He instantly face palmed. He should have checked if he left it with Marcello before he left the manor last night. But he kind of didn’t want to be around those humans any more than he had to.

“Fuck it…” He growled. He ended up walking back to the McCalin estate. On the way he passed by the man’s house he had been to the previous night. Lots of police officers around looking around and doing their thing collecting evidence. He hummed a little and walked over to some of the neighbours that were standing around talking to each other. “What happened here?” He asked.

“Someone killed Coach.” Said a woman. She seemed distraught about it. “He was such a good man too. I heard someone say he was decapitated. Who would do this to him? Why would someone do this to him?”

“Ouch. Rough.” Said Keith half heartedly. “Sounds like something someone would do if they really hated the guy.”

“Yeah… I’m sorry, but who are you?” She asked.

“Oh, sorry about that. I’m not from around here. I was just trying to get to my friend’s place. The directions he gave me went through this street. Does the next street over loop back onto Lexington?”

“Yeah.”

“Thanks. Hope they catch the guy that did it to Coach.” He wondered if anyone would actually find out about the stuff that disgusting man did, or if it was just going to get covered up. In the end it didn’t really matter that much to him. He found the right road and continued to walk back to the estate.

He was mildly annoyed when he discovered that the door was locked. He knocked on the door a few times and growled when he realized that no one was opening up. But they had to be here, there was a car out the front. It had to be one of theirs, right? He walked around the back and looked through the windows to see if anyone was awake before he went back to the front and he started knocking on the door. He yanked on the doorbell a few times and growled some more.

“Open the fuck up Lance.” He muttered. “Hurry up asshole.”

Much to his surprise Pidge was the one that answered. She looked dead tired. “The fuck do you want?”

“I realized I forgot to check something before I left.”

She yawned and rubbed her eyes. “Fine. Saves us from finding you later… Oh by the way you know some guys called Kolivan and Antok?”

“Yeah. Why?”

“Well they want to know where you are.”

Keith shrugged and waved her off. “Shiro first. Marmora later.” He walked over to the basement when Pidge grabbed his arm. “What are you doing?”

“I need to check the basement.” Said Keith calmly. “When my brother comes here he has to leave something extremely important to him here. Carrying it around would cause him to instantly get put in jail.”

“... Says the guys that eats pedophiles.”

“Oh, you found out what I am?”

“Yeah, Kolivan told us you’re a sin-eater.”

“I would have been more impressed if you had found that out on your own.”

Pidge shrugged. “We are sleep deprived and stressed. What do you expect?”

Keith shrugged and walked inside to make his way towards the basement. 

“What are you looking for?” Asked Pidge as she followed him.

“A safe large enough to fit a small child.” Said Keith. “Obviously it’s magic but I need to make sure that my brother’s stuff is in there. If he is it’s in the area it’ll be in there.”

“Need help looking?”

He gave Pidge a skeptical look. She was small and kind of annoying, but she was smart. “Sure.” The two of them went down to the basement and Keith started looking inside crates and behind boxes He was careful not to do anything that might curse him or poison him. He noticed Pidge staying away from a lot of the shelves that had bottles of liquids and things. She really was the smart one.

“Hey is this it?” She asked as she pointed to a black metal box that looked very much like a safe but it didn’t have a combination lock or a keypad. However, Keith knew that this was Marcello’s safe. He’d seen him open it up several times when he and his parents were visiting the old man.

“Yeah that’s it.” It was heavy, but Keith managed to pick it up and walked out of the basement, dumping it on the dining room table. He sat in front of it and glared at the door of the safe. He had no idea how it opened. Stupid magic safe. After attempting to open it several times with his hands he gave up and slapped it off the table. “Fuck.”

Pidge yawned and watched the safe hit the floor. “So are you sin-eaters like cats or something?”

“What? No I’m just frustrated… I want this stupid thing open… Fuck it. I’m going to get Lance.” He picked up the safe and started to walk upstairs.

“Why Lance?”

“It’s his house now. All of Marcello’s magic stuff should be his now if he’s decided to take ownership.” He sniffed the air and followed Lance’s scent to one of the guests rooms. He kicked the door open and dumped the safe on the bed. This obviously scared the hell out of him as he jolted upright.

“WHAT THE FUCK?!”

“Shut up and open the fucking safe.” Growled Keith. 

Lance rubbed his eyes and looked at the safe and then looked up at Keith. “Firstly, I don’t know the code. Secondly, there’s nothing for me to put a code into. Like what the fuck man?”

Keith huffed and jumped on the bed, grabbing Lance by the collar of his shirt. “I don’t have time for this. This is a magic safe. You own it now. It should open for you and only you. I need to open it.”

“I was sleeping!” Whined Lance. I have no idea how to open it!”

Keith narrowed his eyes at him. “Open it now or I will eat you.”

“...” Lance promptly kicked Keith in the dick again and tossed him off the bed. “And stay out of my bed!”

Keith made a high pitched whine from the floor. “Fuck you!” Lance pushed the safe off the bed and gave zero shits when Keith yelped. “My leg!”

Hearing Keith in pain made Lance smile. “Good. Now fuck off and I’ll open it later. Sleep now.” Keith hissed and reluctantly slunk out of the room. He knew he wasn’t going to win this.


	4. Shiro's precious object

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lance continues to hate is life and all the magical BS in it. The boy needs a hug. Keith just wants to find Shiro. He too needs a hug. I need to get some sleep. But I won't. You need to get ready for feels. So many feels and junk. Kudos and comment when you can. Enjoy :D

Keith was annoyed that Lance pushed the safe onto his leg, but he patiently waiting outside of Lance’s room till he was good and ready to open the safe for him. He needed to make sure Shiro was here on earth and he hadn’t made some stupid mistake by starting his serch here and not continuing it where he came from.

He waited for hours. He let Lance sleep for as long as he wanted to. Keith did respect Lance enough to not try and force him to open the safe. Mainly because Lance didn’t want to open the safe, and it being a magic object it wouldn’t open up unless Lance wanted it to. He sighed and rested his head on his knees as he waited and waited.

The sun went down and the sun rose. He heard movement behind Lance’s door and him muttering to himself for a bit before he went quiet. Keith had to admit he did feel a little bad about it. Lance was probably worried about him waiting outside for him and possibly forcing him to open the safe.

He sighed and knocked on the door. “Hey Lance? It’s me, Keith. Can we talk?” He heard nothing. That just made Keith feel even more guilty than he already was. “Okay, you can just listen… I need to get into that safe. If my brother is here I can track him down by using what he left with Marcello and I… I don’t know how human families work, since I’m not human and all, but Shiro’s really important to me. He’s been there for me ever since my dar… He’s the only really close family I have. I know I have a sar, but kind of haven’t seen her in years. Demon thing. I’ll tell you about it later. Point is Shiro is really all I have and I… I need him. I need to know if he's still alive, or dead… I just want some kind of closure… So can you please open the safe for me? Please?”

Keith frowned a little when he got no response. Apparently Lance was still upset at him. It was frustrating. Maybe Lance didn’t know what it was like to have a very close family? Maybe humans weren’t like him? Maybe Lance didn’t care that Shiro was missing and it was eating Keith up inside? Lance didn’t seem to know anything about Marcello so maybe he didn’t give a damn about humans? He should just take the safe to Kolivan and get him to open it.

“Fine. If you don’t want to help me I’ll come in and get the safe and take it to Kolivan.” He opened the door and almost had to do a double take. The window was open and several bed sheets had been tied together and used to make a rope that was attached to the bed and hanging out the window.

Did Lance know he was waiting for him and just climbed out the window? That meant he went and poured his heart out to an empty room. Lance didn’t even hear him. Keith took back everything he felt about feeling guilty. He was going to find Lance and eat his arm.

***

Lance could not believe how lucky he was that Keith hadn’t caught him escaping out the window. Once he had woken up he was well rested, but that meant he could look back on everything that happened in the past few hours and internally screamed. He was royally fucked. Life had officially grabbed him by his hair and tagged him with consequences and bad decisions behind some seedy bar after beating the shit out of him with a lead pipe. 

So obviously the only logical course of action was to run the fuck away and pretend that this never happened. He should just tell Kolivan he wanted to sell the place and be done with it. But would he even be allowed to sell it now that he knew about his uncle and the fact he summoned a fucking demon?

He made a small panicked noise and broke the pen in his hand, getting ink all over his notebook. He swore quietly and did what he could to save his work. After sneaking out of the house he, Hunk, and Pidge went to their classes. They might have a slight demon problem at the moment, but they still needed to get to their lectures. An angry professor was worse than an angry demon.

He was still going to get an angry professor since he got ink everywhere. He ended up spending twenty minutes in the bathroom after class trying to scrub the ink off his skin. It wasn’t going very well. He’d probably end up scrubbing his skin raw before he had cleaned himself off.

With a heavy sigh he left the bathroom and went to walk to his next class. As he walked he felt like someone’s eyes were boring into him. Keith must have found him or something and he was pissed. Looks like Lance was now just going to have to live in a permanent state of anxiety until he could fix this. Why did Keith care so much about some stupid safe anyway? Why did he have to go through this? Why couldn’t Marcello have just left him a car? That would have been so much easier.

He attempted to lose those prying eyes prying eyes in the crowd and it seemed to work. He quickly ducked into a walkway between two buildings and let out a small sigh. All he had to do was avoid an angry demon for the rest of his life. Sounded easy enough. He could go and live on an island somewhere in the Carribian. That sounded like a good idea.

“Lance McClain?” Questioned a mature female vice.

Lance jumped and quickly turned around to see a woman with short hair wearing a business suit. She had a no nonsense look about her and had a stone cold expression that reminded him too much of Kolivan. Was she a teacher? Had to be. Was he in trouble? Perfect, he was going to get reamed by administration.

He put on his best smile for her. “Y-yeah. That’s me. Lance.”

She nodded and held out a card. “Krolia Kogane. Human resources for Marmora lawyers.”

“... Oh.” He took the card from her and put it in his pocket.

“Kolivan and Antok have informed me that you have gone and summoned my son with no intention of returning him to his father?”

“Huh?”

“Keith is an immature sin-eater.” Informed Krolia. “He should not be here on this plane of existence for at least twenty more years. Summoning him now proves you are either stupid, suicidal or both. Being as young as Keith is there is a very good chance he will still have difficulty distinguishing between his favourite foods and say… the lustful thoughts of a child just hitting puberty.”

“Wait, so he still could technically be a child eater? I knew it…” He shook his head. “Look, he’s probably still at my uncle’s place or he’s coming to find me. Go ahead and take him to wherever you want. I don’t know how to send him back. It was just an accident… I didn’t mean to and now everyone is… everyone is blaming me for this…” He could feel himself tearing up. “Shit, I didn’t even know magic was real until last night… I have no idea what the fuck I’m meant to do anymore…I didn’t mean to summon Keith. I’d undo it if I knew how... And I broke my only good pen...”

Krolia was taken aback by how upset Lance was getting. She awkwardly put her hand on his shoulder in an effort to try and comfort him. “Um… there, there… Please don’t be upset… Perhaps I was a little too harsh on you… You’re just a child too… Look, is there someone who can take notes for you or something? You’re not fit to go to class in this state.”

“I guess…” He muttered.

Krolia smiled softly at him. “That’s good. Let’s go back to the estate for now and get Keith. If he isn’t there I can show you a spell to track the demon you summoned and I’ll fix this. Sound good? The sooner we can get this done the sooner it’ll be over, right?”

Lance nodded and just numbly followed her to her car and got in. He just wanted it to be over already. He was done with all this magic and demon shit. The anxiety wasn’t good for him. He wanted it to be over with.

They got back to the estate and Lance opened the door, just in time to watch a safe fall from the stairwell and hit the floor with a loud think. Keith jumped down after it. Lance wasn’t even mad anymore. He was just stressed and done with it.

“Found Keith.”

Keith ignored them and tried to pry the door of the safe open. “Fuck… Maybe I should throw it off the roof?”

“Keith.” Called Krolia.

Keith’s head shot up and his nose twitched. “Sar?” He quickly ran over to her and sniffed her a few times before he smiled and hugged her. “Sar.”

Krolia smiled and hugged him back. “Good to see you again… But you really shouldn’t be here now. Time to go back for a few more years. Okay?”

Keith quickly jumped away from her with a look of betrayal on his face. “No! I can’t go back yet! I have to find my littermate!”

Krolia looked confused and slightly hurt. “Your littermate? Did your dar have another kit behind my back?”

“What? No.” Keith sighed and ran his fingers through his hair in frustration. “Sar, Shiro isn’t a blood littermate… Dar and I found him while we were out hunting… Okay, more like he saved me from getting eaten while we were hunting… so dar and I made him part of our pack… I need to find him he’s here somewhere and I have to find him… If someone summoned him who knows what they could be doing to him right now.”

Krolia frowned a little, she didn’t seem too happy about this but listened to his pleas. “Okay. We will find your littermate. What kind of creature is he?”

“...” Keith seemed reluctant to tell her.

“Keith… Tell your sar what creature your littermate is.” Said Krolia in a more authoritative voice.

Keith shook his head. “No. I can’t…”

“Now Keith.”

“No.”

Lance rolled his eyes. He was so done with this. “Keith tell Krolia what Shiro is right now.”

“Manticore.” As soon as the word slipped out of his mouth Keith clasped his hands over his mouth. He looked horrified that he just said that. 

Krolia went through a whole range of emotions; surprise, fear, anger, conflicted, and then she settled on angry again. “A MANTICORE?!” She screamed. “A MANTICORE IS LOOSE ON EARTH?!”

Keith growled at her. “THIS IS WHY I DIDN’T WANT TO TELL YOU! I KNEW YOU WOULD THROW A FIT! THIS IS WHY I HAVE TO FIND HIM BEFORE YOU PEOPLE DO! YOU’LL FUCKING KILL HIM FOR NO FUCKING REASON!”

“HE’S A MANTICORE! THAT’S REASON ENOUGH!”

“FUCK YOU!”

They glared at each other with absolute hatred. To be honest it scared the hell out of Lance. How many times this week was he going to feel like he was going to die this week. Why did he have to be the voice of reason when he had no idea what was going on? “Okay everyone, time to calm down… Why is it so dangerous to have a manticore on earth?”

Krolia answered, but she continued to glare daggers at Keith. “Manticore are man eaters. They are extremely quick to anger and will murder just out of anger if they so wish. Their tails are full of lethal poison. One vile of the stuff in a town’s well and everyone will die a horrible and agonizing death. If its tail has quills instead of a scorpion sting it will shoot its quills at will. That’s not even counting all the other horrible things their venom can do when used in potions and in rituals. Manticore are not allowed on earth under any circumstances.”

“SHIRO IS NOT LIKE THAT!” Screamed Keith. “HE DOESN’T MURDER PEOPLE FOR NO REASON! YOU DON’T KNOW HIM! YOU DON’T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT HIM! YOU WILL NOT HURT A MEMBER OF MY PACK!”

“I AM YOUR SAR!”

“YEAH, NOT PACK! JUST SAR!”

Lance felt like he was missing some big part of demon culture here. Was this some kind of demon patriarchy going on here? Possibly. Anything was possible. “Okay! Everyone calm down… Chill. Relax. Deep breaths. Stop screaming at each other.”

Keith growled and crossed his arms. He looked pissed and ready to throw down with Krolia. “Just open the fucking safe so I can find Shiro and leave. I don’t want to be here with this bitch anyway. I just want to be with Shiro.”

Krolia rolled her eyes and looked at the safe and then at Lance. “... Look, I know you are probably not going to want to hear this, but when Kolivan knows that something belonging to a Manticore is in there, he’s going to want it… Where’s Marcello’s ring?”

“His what now?”

Krolia sighed. “His ring. Marcello has a ring that he uses as a conduit to channel his magic. Without it, he wouldn’t have been able to become as powerful as he was. You would need to channel whatever magic within your body to open the safe… Look I wouldn’t ask if this wasn’t important, but it is…”

Lance sighed. “Is this something that’s going to make me suffer and wish that I was dead?”

She shrugged. “I honestly don’t know, but it would be better if you do this now than when I report to Kolivan. Weighing up the options he will see earth’s safety as more important than your comfort… He should have left you something when he visited before. A red wood box?”

“... Yeah. That’s in the office.” Said Lance quietly. He knew he was going to regret this. The trio went up to the office with Keith carrying the safe, holding it protectively against his chest.

When they got to the office Lance picked up the box Kolivan left behind. It was simple and white with a clear gemstone embedded on it. It kind of looked like it was made of glass while the band looked like it might have been made of bone. He wasn’t too sure what to make of it.

“Is this his ring?” He asked.

“Yes.” Said Keith and Krolia simultaneously. 

Lance sighed and slipped the ring onto his left pinky finger. He was kind of surprised by how well it fit. It was like it was made for him. He jumped slightly when the stone’s colour quickly became blue. It reminded him of the ocean.

“... Whoa. What now?” He asked.

Keith dumped the safe on the desk and Krolia gestured to it. “You put the hand with the ring on it on top of the safe, think of the name of the person who the item belongs to, and then you open it. The safe will open and show any item that they have left behind.”

“Right… The guy’s name is Shiro, right?” 

“Yes.” Said Keith. He was starting to get impatient.

Lance just sighed and did as he was told. He put his left hand on the safe, thought the name Shiro in his head, and tugged on the door. It instantly unlocked. Inside was a marge brown fabric bag wrapped in ropes. Before he could look at it any further Keith quickly snatched it away and held it protectively against his chest while hissing at Krolia and Lance.

Lance quickly took a step back while Krolia stood her ground. “Keith. As your sar I am ordering you to hand over the object right now.”

Keith growled at her and bared his fangs. They seemed to be elongating and slowly becoming serrated like a steak knife. “You will not harm Shiro. I will find him and we will leave. That is all we will do.”

“He is far too dangerous.”

“Yeah, I can tell by how shocked you were to learn he was here. He isn’t like other Manticore. He doesn’t kill for fun. He’s my littermate. My pack.” 

“Keith!” She snapped. “We do not have time for this.” She held her hand out. “Hand over the bag. Shiro is a demon and must not be allowed to keep living.”

“Dar was a demon.” Growled Keith as he slowly inched away from her. “And dar let Shiro into our pack. He trusted Shiro. Dar trusted him! Why can’t you trust me when I say Shiro is good?”

“Because he is a Manticore.” Said Krolia. “It is in his nature to be violent and eat people. Not all demons are nice to humans. Shiro will harm and kill humans. You need to give me the bag so we can make sure humanity is safe.”

Keith shook his head. “No… I don’t care about humans. They are all stupid, horrible, vile things. I fucking eat the worst of the worst… My pack comes first and the only ones in my pack are dar and Shiro! Not you! Not a sar that chose a coven over a pack! Not someone that chose humanity over your lineage!” He reached behind himself and forced the window open, snapping the lock off in the process.”

“Keith, get away from the window.” She warned. “Don’t you do that. You’re going to regret it if you do.”

He just chuckled. “Funny. I regret a lot of things, but I’m never going to regret saving my pack.” Without a second though Keith jumped out the window. The two remaining people in the room ran over to see what became of him. Considering he did just jump from the third floor. Like a cat, Keith landed on his feet and he sprinted away carrying the bag close to his chest.

Krolia growled in annoyance and slammed her hand against the window frame. “Damn it! A fucking Manticore? Of all the creatures to be his littermate it had to be a Manticore.”

Lance felt like he had just been part of one of the soap operas his mama always watched. Oh well, he did what they asked. Now it was time to wash his hands of this. He went to tug the ring off, but it wouldn’t budge. He kept pulling till a spike of unbearable pain shot up his arm. It was like someone slid heated wire under his skin. He swore and doubled over in pain as he clutched his aching hand. He knew he would regret this.

Krolia jumped at his sudden outburst and crouched next to him. “Hey, calm down there Lance. Don’t try to take the ring off. There is no point. It will just keep defending itself if you try.”

“D-defending itself?” Yeah, Lance was regretting everything.

She smiled sadly and gently took his hand. “Like I said before, that ring is a conduit that Marcello used to cast magic. It’s a magic object with extreme power that will stay with the wearer until the end. Now that you have put it on you can’t take it off until you die.”

“... Excuse me?” 

“The longer you wear and the more you use it the more intune you will become to magic and other such things.” She said calmly. “I suggest you come with me so we can talk to Kolivan and sort this all out.”

Lance officially hated his life.

***

Once Keith felt he was far enough away from Lance and Krolia he slipped into a public bathroom and hid in one of the stalls. He needed to check on Shiro’s important object and make sure it was still intact. He very gingerly pulled the ropes away, letting them fall to the floor. When it was free of the rope Keith carefully pulled back the fabric to carefully take out the object inside.

Smooth and white, brown, and black. For so long Shiro had kept this safe with him. Over time it had cracked and became damaged, but Shiro would always fix it with a technique he told him was called kintsugi, so veins of gold completely covered this precious item.

It made Keith sad to look at it, but it belonged to Shiro. His most precious and beloved item in the entire world. The one thing he could not live without. Something Shiro reprimanded him so many times for touching or picking up when he was younger. It almost felt like he was doing something bad by touching it.

He sighed as he ran his fingers over it every smooth curve and slight bump. “I’m sorry Shiro…” He muttered. “But I need to find you… I need to find you before they do. Please forgive me…” He held the object up to his face and smiled sadly as he stared deep into the empty sockets of the human skull. Shiro’s most beloved and precious object. “Don’t worry though. I promise I’ll take good care of you for Shiro. He’ll forgive me for taking you, won’t he Adam?”


	5. Everyone is miserable

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Title is accurate. Nobody is happy. Everyone is going through shit. Some worse than others. Kudos and comment when you can. Enjoy :D

Lance was miserable but that seemed to be what his life was going to be like from now on. Just endless misery. He just numbly followed Krolia back to her car and just let her take him back to the Marmora building. His body was on autopilot as she ushered him past reception and into an elevator. She said a few things to him, but Lance didn’t hear her. It was all just white noise. She moved him into some huge office and sat him in a chair. 

“Mr McCalin?”

Lance jumped a little and sighed when he saw it was Kolivan talking to him. He was in his office. “Oh, hey. What’s up?”

Kolivan handed over some documents and a pen. “I would like you to read these documents and sign it.”

“Oh, yeah sure…” He read over the documents while he listened in to Kolivan and Krolia talking.

“So you found Keith?” He asked.

“Unfortunately, yes…”

“What do you mean unfortunately?”

“As it turns out Keith wants to find his littermate. Which isn’t bad, but his littermate isn’t a blood relative. It’s a Manticore called Shiro.”

Kolivan let out an annoyed groan. “Wonderful. A Manticore… This is not good. Do we have a personal object of this Shiro to track him?”

“Well we did, but Keith took it and ran away.”

“So we need to track him?” Kolivan glanced over at Lance. “Is he able to track Keith down?”

“Possibly. He is wearing Marcello’s ring and it didn’t reject him.” Said Krolia. “Signing a contract or not, it doesn’t matter. The ring chose him and refused to be removed from his hand. Lance will quickly be able to use the powers that Marcello possessed. He clearly has some natural talent.”

“True… And since he did summon Keith he would technically be the best to track him down. Even better than you and you’re his sar.”

She shrugged. “He made it clear that I am just his sar and not his pack.” The conversation quickly turned to talking about sars, dars, and packs. 

Lance turned his attention back to the documents. From what he could tell this was all just some kind of legal junk about storing magic items for them for a fee and blah, blah, blah. He put the paper down, unsigned and pushed it back towards Kolivan. He then got up and walked towards the door.

“Hey, where are you going?” Asked Kolivan. “You didn’t sign this!”

Lance shrugged. “Look, I’m just tired and stressed. I want to go back to my place and sleep. I don’t want anything to do with magic or magic things. You guys can go and do what you want. I just want to go and forget about it… Also I’m going to go and get my hand cut off or something. Bye.”

He quickly left before they could say anything and slipped into the elevator. He hated this so much. He should have just sold the place without looking. What was he even meant to do now? They wanted him to go and do magic stuff that he had no idea how to do. Why did they suddenly have these expectations for him? They didn’t know him.

Lance sighed loudly and ran his fingers through his hair. “Fuck, fuck, fuck… I wish I knew how to make this all go away…” 

He felt a slight tug on his finger. He looked down at his hand and saw the ring. There was a subtle twitching in his finger that had the ring on it. It was like someone was tugging him along, trying to get him to go somewhere. Pointing him in a direction.

“Oh no you don’t!” He snapped as he slapped his hand. “No. Bad magic ring. You stop that, whatever it is you are doing. Cancel. Deleat. No.” Moments later the tugging stopped happening and it just went back to being a normal ring. “Good. You stay like that… No more magic.”

When the elevator doors opened up Lance quickly left the building, shoved his hands in his pockets and headed back home. Not to the estate, he was done with that. He was going back to his cramped rental with Hunk. 

***

Kolivan looked over the unsigned documents with annoyance. “Why didn’t he sign this? He is wearing the ring. He’s agreed to fully inherit everything Marcello has left for him.”

Krolia shrugged as she stared down at the street from the office window. “I tricked him into opening the safe. Can’t open the safe without the ring. The Manticore is more important. Besides, if Lance hadn’t willingly accepted it you would have forced it onto him now.”

“... Okay fair point. I guess we should leave him for now. This has clearly been too overwhelming for him to take on so suddenly.” He sighed. “If only he was more like Marcello. Things would have gone a lot smoother.”

That made her chuckle. “Really? You want Lance to be more like Marcello? We are talking about the same man right? The one that shamelessly flirted with anything that walked through his door. He hit on you and Antok and tried to proposition an orgy the first time he met you two… Then when informed he helped me and my mate with our teething kit he backtracked and propositioned you and Antok for an orgy.”

“... I meant magic wise. Not personality.” Muttered Kolivan. “I am surprised Akira didn’t instantly devour Marcello the second he smelt him.”

She shrugged. “He was flirtatious but he wasn’t a bad person…” Krolia sighed and put her hand on the window. They needed to find the Manticore. Even if he wasn’t deadly like Keith had insisted they couldn’t take the risk. If another coven found him they could use and exploit them to do something dangerous. The only way to ensure that there were no more casualties would be if Lance was able to track down Keith and take back Shiro’s precious object. Sure she could track him down herself and she probably would have to, but she didn’t want to hunt down her kit.

Kolivan sighed. “We’ll leave those boys alone for a few days. They need to calm down and think clearly… Hopefully they will come around and understand how important this is… If Keith does find Shiro first hopefully they can slip through a crack and leave before we find him… Where does one even hide a Manticore anyway?”

***

Keith had found his way onto the roof of an office building. Even if no one was willing to help him for the sake of helping him, he would find Shiro. He had to he somewhere close by. He would never leave Adam behind for too long. He’d always stay close by if he needed to leave him for whatever reason. 

He cut into his palm with his talons and started to furiously scribble markings into the cement. This had to work. He had to find Shiro. He was the only thing that mattered to him. No one else did. Not his sar, not that idiot human Lance, nothing. Shiro was all he cared about. He took the skull and placed it in the middle of the circle.

“Okay Adam… Show me where Shiro is.” The skull didn’t move or show any signs that it was going to do anything. “... Come on Adam. I need to find Shiro. Don’t you want me to find Shiro?” He growled in frustration and removed the skull so he could have a good look at what he had written on the ground. It had to be accurate, right? His dar had taught him this spell just in case he ever got lost when he was little

He went over it several times, retracing it with his bloodied claws. It was all accurate. There was no reason it should work… Unless… He picked up the skull and glared at it. It had to be this. Precious objects a;ways held fragments of their owner within them and it reflected their desires. He had no idea if it was Shiro’s desire not to be found while on earth or the lingering imprint of Adam’s soul loyally complying with Shiro’s desires. 

Either way he probably wasn’t going to find Shiro this way after all. Keith knew magic. He knew a small handful of spells. Mostly basic healing incantations and a couple of attacks that he would use if something big was trying to eat him, but he didn’t know enough magic to bypass the desires of Shiro to find him.

“Fucking damn it…” He growled. Keith glared at the skull before wrapping it back up and carefully placing it in his backpack. He needed to brainstorm ideas. Where was Shiro? What places did he go to? He liked quiet places. Anywhere it was quiet and calm and peaceful… Was there a forest around this place somewhere?

His stomach started growling again. He sighed and quietly made his way back down to the street. He tried to remember the things he had been told about humans and what he could do to bait them in a crowded area without causing panic.

He ended up finding a public bathroom and cautiously slipped into the woman’s bathroom and hid in one of the stalls. While he technically appeared androgynous when he made himself small, thanks to his long hair, he couldn’t afford to be small and get grabbed by someone that would take them to an authority figure to wait for his parents to pick him up.

His father had taught him that predators got for the weak, vulnerable and innocent. Exploit it. Which was what he did. He looked through the bag and took out what he needed before shrugging off his own clothes. He flinched as his hips cracked and widened while the bones in his clavicle and cracked like a wishbone and forced his shoulders to get drawn inward. Then the bones in his face fractured and shifted to soften edges and round out his face.

Then came the muscle spasms. Those were the worst. Muscles expanded and contracted as his body forced itself to make it look more appealing and less threatening. Eventually the pain ebbed away to a dull ache and Keith looked down at himself. He almost looked completely female, apart from his natural born genitalia. He was neither a sex demon nor a species that was a natural hermaphrodite so he couldn’t change that part of himself. Not that it mattered. He didn’t fuck his food.

He quickly pulled on the knee length skirt he had taken out of his bag and a relatively plane looking shirt. He stepped out of the stall and checked himself over in a mirror. It had been a while since he had tried to look like a girl, but he thought he looked like a pretty teenage girl. It shouldn’t be too difficult to find and kill something that wanted him.

***

Lance eventually made it home and collapsed on his bed. He took out his phone and saw he had several missed calls and texts from Pidge and Hunk trying to find out where he was. He needed to sort this mess out.

**Lance:**   
_Still alive!_

**Hunk:**   
_What happened to you man? You just vanished!_

**Pidge:**   
_I thought some demon got you and died._

**Lance:**   
_Lol. If only._   
_So I met Keith’s mum. She’s kind of hot but like, she’s scary._   
_We went back to the estate to see if Keith was still there._   
_I put on a magic ring._   
_I opened a magic safe._   
_Keith stole what was inside and had a screaming match with his mum._   
_Keith ran away._   
_Keith’s mum took me to Kolivan and he tried to get me to sign a contract._   
_Now I have a magic ring stuck on my hand that does magic shit._

**Pidge:**   
_Oof._   
_Big oof._   
_Double oof._

**Hunk:**   
_That’s rough buddy._   
_Coming back now._   
_You’re at our place and not the estate right?_

**Lance:**   
_Yeah I’m in my own bed wallowing in misery._   
_Kill me._

**Pidge**   
_I’ll be over after class._   
_I’ll bring them doughnuts._

Lance smiled a little and tossed his phone onto his desk. He really wanted this to all be over. Maybe he had slipped and hit his head when he went into the basement and he was having some weird coma dream? If only. He wished he could open his eyes and everything would be back to normal. This was too much for him.

“Fuck…” He muttered. “There has to be something I can do to like just… I don’t fucking know… I want to feel better…” The finger with the ring on it twitched ever so slightly and he slapped it. “Fucking stop it.”

***

Shiro’s back stung so badly. He just wanted to curl up in his cell and stop the pain. But he knew that wasn’t something he could do. The gashes in his back were unbelievably deep. It was like someone had gouged out as much meat as they could on his shoulder blades and then dragged the knife down, ripping of sheets of skin as they went.

He should have been trying to escape and get out of this place. But it was pointless. The second he changed his form the room would fill with a thick, pungent gas and they would take something from him. First his left wing when he didn’t bring them what they wanted. Then his right wing when he tried to escape. 

Then when he tried to take on his Manticore form to try and break out of the room he was trapped in, he was gassed and woke up missing one of the fingers of his right hand. Then he lost another finger, and another. Both those times were due to failed escape attempts. They had also taken to staring him. He was so hungry. He might actually start eating his already mutilated hand.

How long had he been there?

He heard the door open up, but Shiro didn’t move. He just heard what was happening around him. Someone was begging, pleading not to be put in with that thing. Probably him. Shiro hadn’t told them anything. They hadn’t summoned him. He had come here through a small crack and was just going to keep to himself as he always did before he want back. But before he could these people caught him.

He sighed a little when someone got thrown in with him and they immediately tried to get out the door that was promptly locked behind them. 

“Sendak you sick fuck!” They screamed. “You can’t fucking do this! Let me out right now!”

“Why should I?” Growled Sendak. “You heard Zarkon. I gotta tie up all the loose ends. You think we could let someone like you go? Nah, you’re Manticore chow now. Haggar hasn’t fed this thing since it fucked up the first time. Surprised it’s taken this long to eat you. Bastard should be more than ready to rip you limb from fucking limb.”

Shiro knew Sendak was right. He was hungry and there were just hanging a piece of meat right in front of him He silently walked up behind the person that was still banging on the door like a maniac. They reached out, grabbed their head and quickly snapped their neck so it almost swiveled a perfect 180 degrees.

They dropped to the floor and Shrio dragged their body away from the door so he could eat peacefully in a corner. He wanted to completely devour this human and leave nothing behind, but he didn’t know when he would get fed next. Fuck it. Shiro needed to eat so he was going to eat.

He unhinged his jaw and started to eat this humans face; skin, hair, bones, everything. The dozens of teeth that lined the inside of his throat, along with extra teeth and extremely corrosive stomach acid could digest anything. As he ate he slowly realized that he was avoiding the limbs. The limbs were what Keith usually went for first when they shared a kill. 

He smiled sadly at the memory. When he asked Keith about it he had said something about him being small and just wanting to make sure he could eat something since Shiro had a tendency to eat anything in front of him. After that Shiro made an effort to leave more of their kill for Keith. They still fort over their favourite parts of a kill though, like any normal pack. There was always a fight when it came to their kill’s entrails. This led to him getting bitten several times by Keith while he grabbed a bloody handful and ran away to eat his stolen treat in peace.

Now Shiro was sad. He had never been gone this long without telling Keith. His littermate was probably starting to freak out. He’d be scared and confused. He’d probably think he had abandoned him. That thought deeply upset and depressed Shiro. Keith acted strong but he was still extremely immature. If he had to guess that was probably because he was part human. He needed to get back to him. 

Time to attempt another escape.

He ate everything apart from the clothes and a femur which he carefully chewed to point. He still had a few fingers left before they started on his other hand. He could risk it. He hid it in the clothes and picked them up. He walked over to the door and hit it a few times.

“Hey!” He called. “Get this junk out of my cell! I don’t need some human’s bloody clothes in here messing up the place.”

A small window hatch in the door opened up and someone looked in. Before they could get a word out Shiro grabbed the femur and shoved it through his eye. They screamed and moved back. Shiro jumped back and got ready for a fight. He expected them to open the door to subdue him, but unfortunately they did not. Instead the vents opened up and the room filled with that disgusting pungent gas again. 

Shiro didn’t even remember getting knocked out or hitting the floor. It was a blink and you miss it kind of thing. He tried to move his arm to see if they decided to take his whole hand this time. They took his whole right arm.


	6. Chuffs and chirps

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lance continues to get stressed out and Keith makes some new friends, or at least makes friendly acquaintances. Also, Lance needs a good nights sleep and hugs damn it! The boy is too stressed out about everything! I need to stop projecting my own anxieties onto the poor boy. Kudos and comment when you can. Enjoy :D

_Human remains have been found in a dumpster between the corner of Raymond road and King street. Police are asking any witnesses that might have seen something or heard anything to come forward._

_“The attack on this man was extremely vicious and brutal.” Said the chief of police. “We do not want to alarm people but we would like everyone to be as cautious as you would any other day. Everything is under control.”_

_Breaking news, the body has been identified as 32 year old Alexandar Waltman. A music teacher at St Augustines Catholic girls high school._

***

Pidge was poking Lance’s ring with a pen. It was kind of annoying but no one really knew what to do. Lance had gone over the story about how it was stuck on his finger and he wasn’t able to take it off and how it hurt when it did.

“This sucks!” He whined. “I just want it off!”

Pidge frowned. “Well, it looks like it’s made of some kind of ivory or animal bone… Not sure about the gem. You said it was clear before, right?”

“Yeah, and when I put it on, it went blue.” Said Lance. “What do I do now? This thing is so fucking weird! Sometimes I say stuff and I feel a pull. I have to smack it and tell it to stop its magic bullshit.”

A curious look came across her face. “Interesting… Ask it where the spoons are.”

“What? Why?”

“Magic stuff. Who knows what’s gonna happen?”

Lance sighed. “Okay. Where are the spoons?” There was a strong tug on his finger enough to make his hand move in the general direction of the kitchen.

Pidge nodded and made a few mental notes. “Okay… Ask it where… Where that plate with the red flowers is. The one you guys lost.”

“Where’s the red flower plate?” Asked the ring. He felt a pull and a small nagging sensation in the back of his mind. He got up and walked over to the couch where the ring was drawing him. He looked under the couch and pulled it out. “Hey I found it!”

“You found the plate?” Asked Hunk as he walked over with some coffee.

Pidge happily grabbed the bean juice and happily sat on a chair. “Theory time, magic ring GPS. As it a question and it finds you the stuff you need. Pretty awesome huh?”

“Well that is pretty cool.” Said Hunk as he sat on the couch. “Now you won’t lose anything ever again.”

“It’s not cool!” Whined Lance. “I don’t want this! I want it off my hand! Someone get me a knife! I am cutting off my finger!”

Pidge rolled her eyes. “Aren’t you over exaggerating a little? Oh, you know what? I bet that ring would have been useful when we were finding ways to send Keith back. Probably would have found the right book in a few seconds.”

Suddenly Lance’s eyes lit up. “Shit, I think you’re right Pidge. I could also look stuff about sin-eaters and manticore.”

“Are we going back there?” Asked Hunk.

Lance nodded. “Yeah. If we can find something about sending demons back to wherever they come from Keith will be gone and it’ll be all good.”

“Um… do you really think sending Keith back will solve everything at this point?” Asked Pidge. “Seems a little too late at this point…”

“Nope. It’s going to work.” Said Lance with confidence. His confidence did not fill his friends with any confidence. If anything they were kind of worried that Lance might have snapped just a little bit due to the stress. Which probably wasn’t a good thing since he had access to magic objects. 

But the two friends went along with Lance anyway back to the manor. Lance immediately went to the library and started to look through books. He was muttering under his breath and randomly pulling books off the shelf as he went. Probably not a good idea considering how old all the books were.

“You sure you should be throwing these around?” Asked Pidge. “They are pretty damn old…” She picked up one and flipped through it. “Also, this is in Arabic.”

Lance paused for a moment and took the book from her, frowning. “Um, no. It’s English.”

“That’s Arabic. Hunk is that Arabic?”

Hunk looked over Lance’s shoulder. “Um, I don’t know what language that is but it isn’t English.”

“It totally is though.”

“Then what does it say?” Asked Pidge in a slightly defiant tone.

Lance rolled his eyes and began reading. “The origin of sin-eaters is mostly unknown. Demonologists have theorized that they are the offspring of the unholy union between angels and demons. They themselves are demons but they must consume their brethren and have sometimes been paired with angels to cleans settlements that have been consumed by the sins of the flesh. Demonologist, Isa Ahmad has suggested that the complete destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah was due to angels allowing sin-eaters to run rampant and consume everything in their path.”

Hunk frowned. “Really? That’s what it says?”

“Yeah.” Said Lance like it was obvious.

Hunk and Pidge shared a confused look. “Buddy,” Said Hunk calmly. “There is nothing there. Not English or Spanish… Or anything you should know…”

“But it is English.” Snapped Lance. “... I’m not crazy here guys!”

Pidge frowned. “Maybe the ring is more than a magic GPS? Maybe it’s a magic google translate too? Like, it would kind of make sense? Why give you information if you can’t use it?”

“I guess…” Muttered Lance. He sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose. “Fuck… I’m so fucking tired…”

Hunk gently patted his back. “Hey buddy, maybe we should send you off to bed or something? You haven’t slept well in the past few days have you? You must need some sleep.”

“Yeah… I need some sleeping pills or something.” He muttered. His friends were able to quickly direct Lance into a guest room. They got him into a bed and he practically passed out the second his head hit the pillow. While it was distressing to see Lance like this, it was surprisingly common. When things suddenly came crashing down on him he would stress himself out so badly he couldn’t be able to sleep or eat for days on end before he made himself sick and he crashed. It was distressing, but there wasn’t much Pidge or Hunk could do about it.

***

Keith had no idea what to do anymore. He didn’t know where Shiro was, he had to throw away the feminine clothes he took after they got saturated in blood, he was cold, didn’t have a safe den to sleep in, and his whole body was sore from all the forced physical changes he went through. Breaking bones and and moving muscles around sucked.

Eventually he found a small strip of greenery with a few trees and benches. However, he could hardly consider it a park or anything like that. He sighed sadly and tried to give himself some kind of covering by wedging himself between a tree and some bushes. He needed a few hours sleep.

He hugged his knees tightly to his chest and tried to shut out some of the light. He missed Shiro. When he and Shiro would sleep together in their den, he would curl around him and pin him down under his paws. It made him feel safe and secure. He had always been the baby of the pack. Everyone always kept him close and safe when they slept. He wasn’t used to sleeping alone. He felt his lip quivering a little and felt a few distressed chuffs and chirps escape throat before he could stop himself.

It was pathetic. He wasn’t a little kit anymore. He could hunt his own food without help. He shouldn’t be making these sounds. It was pathetic. He could do this. He could find Shiro soon and they would be able to go back home. He’d find Shiro before Kolivan or his sar could and they would leave. He continued to make more distressed chuffs and chirps.

“You okay there lad?” Asked a heavily accented voice. Keith jumped in surprise to see a man with one hell of a bright orange moustache crouched down in front of him. “Are you lost? Are your parents around? Do you need some help finding them?”

Keith growled slightly and sniffed the air. This person, whoever he was, didn’t reak of any specific sin. Perhaps he was a little prideful, but there was nowhere near the level of sin that would make Keith want to eat him. Also, who the hell was this guy calling a kit? By human standards he looked like he was in his mid-twenties.

“Who are you calling a kit?” 

The man just smiled at him. “Well, you of course. You’re making all kinds of kit noises so I just assumed you got separated from your parents or pack… Oh, but if you’re just doing a spot of hunting I’ll leave you be.”

“... No.” Muttered Keith. “Not hunting… Just tired.”

The man nodded. “I’m guessing you were part of some pack before tonight?”

“... Maybe.”

He just nodded at Keith. “I see. I’m Coran. I’m what you might call an elemental fae. Now, it’s not good staying out here all night. How about you come back to my place. Much safer for everyone if you have a safe place to sleep.”

Coran didn’t seem like he was a bad person, and elemental fae were relatively harmless… And if he really needed to he could probably punch him and run. “Safer for everyone?”

“Yep.” Said Coran happily. “Having a kit out in the cold is not a good thing. Come on. Follow me back and I can get you something to eat.” The older man stood up and groaned a little when his joints popped slightly.

Keith was a little unsure but he stood up and walked with the older man. “I already ate.”

“Ah, of course. So what do you eat anyway?”

“I’m a carnivore.” Said Keith quietly. He glanced around a little as they passed a few people. “I um… I’m a sin-eater…”

Coran paused in his stride for a moment and shot Keith a slightly concerned look before he kept walking. “Huh. So I am guessing you were the one responsible for the two recent murders that have happened?”

Keith shrugged. “Possibly. I just eat what I like. I don’t really give a damn who they are. If they smell like food to me they are food.”

“Fair enough. Well, I guess I can offer you something to drink then?” Coran lead Keith to some old looking herbal shop that was closed. He unlocked the door and happily went inside. The shop smelled funny to Keith. Too many weird herbs and spices that tickled his nose. “Allura!” Called out Coran. “I’m back and I brought someone with me!”

A dark skinned woman with long flowing white hair popped up from behind a shelf. “Who is it?” She asked.

“A kit sin-eater on the cusp of adulthood.” Said Coran as he happily patted Keith on the back. “Found the poor thing trying to sleep while wedging itself between a tree and a shrub. Clearly hasn’t been in the human world that much on his own. Being a kit and all.”

“I’m not that young.” Grumbled Keith. “What is this place anyway?”

Allura smiled warmly at him. “Just a humble herb shop. Most entities not truly bound to heaven or hell come here for medicinal purposes. Most of our remedies do not work on humans and call what we do here pseudoscience, but none of the things we sell here have any real medicinal use for humans anyway… Some of the teas might be good for them but you know… Do you need anything to eat?”

Keith shook his head. “I recently ate.”

“Well that’s good.” She went and closed the blinds to the shop before gesturing to a back door. “Go ahead and go upstairs. We can get you settled in for the night.”

Before Keith could say anything, Coran was happily leading him to the back door and up the stairs. While Keith was a little uneasy by all of this, he was okay to go with the flow for now. Neither of them seemed to have ill intentions of gave off a danger scent. Coran directed Keith to an old looking couch and placed a weighted blanket around his shoulders.

“There you go lad. How does that feel?”

“... It’s good.” Muttered Keith as he pulled the blanket closer. “... Why are you doing this for me?”

Coran shrugged. “You’re a kit and us fae are naturally drawn to young children… Not always with good intentions, but we like looking after young children in general. I couldn’t just ignore your distressed chirping and chuffing.”

“Oh…” Keith drew his knees up to his chest and completely wrapped the blankets completely around himself. “I’m still not a kit.”

“Your chuffing said otherwise.” Said Coran.

Keith grumbled a little and chuffed slightly. Quietly cursing himself when he chuffed. Damn fae. He wasn’t a kit. He was an adult damn it. He just looked young that’s all. “Still not a kit…”

Allura walked up the stairs and started to make some tea. “So, what is your name young sin-eater? How did you end up on earth?”

Keith just shrugged. “My name is Keith… And I um… I kind of got summoned here by an idiot that doesn’t know a damn thing about magic. So I ran away from him. But I kind of need to be here anyway. My littermate slipped through a crack and I haven’t seen him since.”

This seemed to cause both fae some concern. At least the two of them seemed to understand the importance of finding Shiro, especially since they saw him as a kit. Families, pack, groups, whatever they were called, they were always important to their kind. Everyone knew that separating a kit from their pack could only mean something terrible had happened to the pack. Same with littermates.

“Where are your sar and dar?” Asked Coran. “Surely they must be looking for you?”

Keith shrugged. “My dar died in a freak accident. Hunting trip gone wrong a few decades ago. My sar is a witch… She decided to stay with her coven and when I was starting on solids and showed a tendency to have a more sin-eater diet I went with my dar… The only ones I consider part of my pack are my dar and littermate… With my dar gone it’s just my littermate and they are gone so…”

“Say no more.” Said Allura. She brought over some tea and offered it to him. “Here. It will help you calm down… Coran, is there something we can do for him? He’s just a kit. He doesn’t know what he’s doing, and he got summoned by someone that shouldn’t have summoned him. I’m sure we can do something for him. At least help him find his littermate.”

Coran frowned a little as he twirled his moustache and contemplated this. “Well I guess we could… Well, you’re very lucky young man. Our previous contact ended up quote unquote retiring from his duties quite suddenly, but someone else has quite recently taken up the mantel, so I guess we could give them a shot. Should be quite simple.” The older man smiled and happily drank his own tea. "We should introduce ourselves to them anyway. First thing tomorrow we shall pop over to their place and get to know the new owner. I’m sure they will be able to help you with your problem.”

“If you’re sure…” Keith put his cup down. He didn’t want any tea. He yawned a little and tried his best not to fall asleep. He’d technically been awake for what? Two days straight? He was surprised he hadn’t just collapsed on the street yet… And the blanket was really comfortable… Sleep was good. He could afford to sleep for a little bit.

***

Lance’s dreams that night gave him a terrible sense of vertigo. He was just walking around the house looking for a possible way to leave, but he couldn’t. It seemed to have turned into the Winchester mansion with doors leading nowhere and staircases going into walls. It wasn’t too bad considering what he could have been dreaming about.

But then out of the corner of his eye he saw something. It looked like a shadow, but it moved out of the way as soon as he thought he saw it. “... Hello? Someone there?”

He didn’t hear anything so he continued to walk until he came across a room. He opened the door and went inside. It reminded him of a dance studio with the huge mirror wall. He walked over to it and slowly walked by it from one end to another.

Lance was about halfway across the room when he noticed there was something wrong with his reflection. It was slowly morphing into someone else who was just slightly taller with darker hair, longer and slightly curly. They had stubble all over their face. Their eyes were a striking green and their clothes were a lot more business casual than what he wore. 

It was kind of unnerving, especially since the reflection was still following his movements. So Lance went to leave the room. However his feet weren’t moving. He was stuck in place. He looked at his reflection and it grinned at him, tilting his head slightly. As it did Lance copied him.

He tried to jerk away, but the man in the mirror just laughed and made bolder movements which Lance was forced to follow. He made huge sweeping motions that Lance was forced to follow. Eventually the man stopped moving and Lance was allowed to catch his breath.

“Okay. Enough games.” Said the man. “Time to get to work.”

They walked towards the mirror and touched the glass. Of course Lance was forced to copy him. The glass where their hands connected was warm. Too warm. It was burning. Lance wanted to rip his hand away, but he was unable to. If anything his hand was pressing harder into the glass.

“Don’t fight it.” Said the man. “Don’t deny it. Embrace it.”

***

Lance woke up with a start and slipped out of his chair. He was back in the library sitting in a chair. Which was weird. He thought Hunk and Pidge made him go to bed or something? How did he end up back here? Was he sleepwalking? Did something make him sleepwalk? He wasn’t sure.

He groaned in annoyance and rubbed his eyes. There was a huge chance that this was some crazy magic shit. Maybe he should reconsider sleeping in this place anymore. Magic shit was bound to happen if he did. Speaking of magic stuff he ended up picking up the book he had taken off Pidge and red that passage from. He turned to the page about sin-eaters and frowned. It was all in English. It wasn’t Arabic at all.

_A sin-eater’s diet consists of meat from any and all animals. They are not picky when in the wild. However when it comes to humans and creatures of a higher brain function they tend to consume those that have caused the most taboo of sins and will actively seek out the worst of the worst. _

_Over the centuries their services have been used by covens and witches to judge and punish members that have been accused or and are found guilty of breaking a coven’s rules. They have also been employed by Warlocks to cleans them as they usually have difficulty performing soul cleansing rituals by themselves. This usually involves a sin-eater consuming a small amount of blood, but in extreme cases a Warlock could lose an arm or leg if the sin-eater can sense sin is overwhelming the individual. In the worse case scenario a Warlock will get eaten by a sin-eater._

_In terms of behaviour sin-eaters appear extremely cold to those who are not part of their packs but will open up if they do not sense danger. They also have a natural tendency to be protective of their kits or any kits within the area. The only exception would be kits that have committed unforgivable sins, in which case they will be immediately eaten without a second thought. They generally keep to themselves but will form small packs with blood relatives and in some cases they will allow others into their pack._

_It is interesting to note sin-eaters segregate themselves by gender before and after a kit is born. For the first few decades of a kit’s life they will live with both their dar and sar, but once they move onto solid foods a dar will leave with the kit if the kit is male, and the sar will do the same if the kit is female. It is unknown why they do this. The current theory as of now is that the sar will violently reject any male that could potentially threaten their mate once their kit hits puberty and vice versa for dar’s and female kits._

_This raises a few questions about interbreeding demons. Some demon species are very pack orientated and will not leave their kits for any reason, while other species will always leave their kits with their partner regardless of gender. What happens to those kits in those relationships? Do they even reach full maturity? Is it physically possible? Interbreeding between species is very rare and hard to find in the wild. Practically impossible under controlled scenarios as one, or both partners tend to murder the other when forced to breed._

This was actually kind of interesting. He would have read more if his stomach didn’t start growling. He’d been so stressed out lately he hadn’t actually eaten properly. Hell the last actual meal he had was doughnuts and toasted sandwiches in the morning. He needed to eat something, but he knew there was nothing in the house. Maybe he could get ubereats to bring him a burrito or something?


	7. Back to the estate

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And through the power of Lance being unable to say no to pretty girls he finally gets convinced to help our demon boy out. God bless Allura. Kudos and comment when you can. Enjoy :D

It was relatively early in the morning when Allura and Coran carefully woke Keith up and got him into their car. They let him keep the weighted blanket so that was nice. It was a little embarrassing how he still needed that pressure to be able to sleep. He wasn’t a little kit anymore. He was practically an adult damn it. Still didn’t stop him from napping on the way to meet whoever it was that meant to help him.

Allura gently shook him when they made it to their destination. “Come on Keith. We’re here now.”

Keith yawned a little and got out of the car. When he saw where they were he wanted to scream. This was Marcello’s house, well, technically Lance’s house, but still. “I just ran away from this place…” He grumbled.

Coran seemed surprised to hear that. “Oh? So was the new guy the one that summoned you?”

“Yeah… He is a complete idiot.” Said Keith. “I’d have a better chance of finding my littermate by walking around the city.” He was about to turn around and walk away when Allura spoke up.

“Well even if he isn’t very knowledgeable he might let us use his library. He should have no reason to deny us some help. We even brought gifts for him.” She said as she took a box out of the back of the car.

“Precisely.” Said Coran as he happily walked to the front door and yanked on the pull bell. “... What is the new guy’s name anyway?”

“Lance.” Said Keith. “Lance McCalin. He’s Marcello’s nephew.”

“Ah, keeping the magic in the family. Good idea.” Said Coran. Suddenly the front door opened up and Hunk looked out.

“Um, hello?” He saw Keith and smiled a little. “Oh hey there Keith. Good to see you again.”

Coran took Hunk’s hand and happily shook. “Nice to meet you my boy. I’m Coran and this is Allura. Our most sincere condolences about your uncle. Marcello was a good man and-”

“Whoa, slow down there buddy.” Said Hunk. “Marcello wasn’t my uncle. You’re looking for Lance, right? I’m Hunk.”

“Oh! Sorry about that.” Said Coran quickly. “Still nice to meet you. Would you mind if we come in to meet Lance?”

“Um… Sure I guess?” Hunk seemed a little unsure about it. “Um, you guys are um, into magic and stuff right?”

Allura chuckled a little and waved her hand making several butterflies appear. “Hunk, Coran and I are fae. We have just come to pay our respects and offer our services to the new Warlock that resides in the McCalin estate. That’s all.”

Hunk nodded a little and led the trio up to the library where Lance and Pidge currently were. Pidge was surrounded by dozens of books while Lance sitting on top of a bookshelf reading something from a really big book. He looked like he was getting really into whatever he was reading since he didn’t seem to notice anything happening around him. Suddenly he slammed the book shut and grinned.

“This Addul Alhazred guy knew his shit.” He said with a mad glint in his eye. “Okay, so a lot of his writing is insane, but he knew what he was talking about. Lot of stuff about the other gods and stuff. Totally would not call, but at least now I know.” He looked over at Hunk and everyone else. “Oh, when did we get new people? Are you guys witches too?”

“We’re fae.” Said Coran. “Nice to meet you Lance. I’m Coran and this is Allura.”

Lance’s eyes fell on Allura and Keith noticed the slight blush that covered his face. Sure Allura was pretty, but she wasn’t that pretty. At least not in his opinion. Lance put on his best smile. “Well hello there. I would come down and say hello to you properly, but Pidge moved the ladder.”

Pidge rolled her eyes. “Took you long enough to notice. You didn’t even notice when they rang the bell.” She got up and started to move the ladder over so Lance was able to climb down. “You didn’t even notice Keith was with them.”

Lance frose for a second and looked at Keith, pointing an accusatory finger at him “You!”

Keith jumped a little and involuntarily let small chirp. “M-me?”

“Yeah you! I’m like two hours away from figuring out how to send you back to hell!” He stated that proudly and that made Keith hiss at him in annoyance. He highly doubted Lance had the brain cells to understand anything about that. It was more than a little annoying.

“I’d like to see you try. You have about as much chance of doing that as you do being able to pull your head out of your ass. Crazy eyed fucker.” Growled Keith.

Lance gasped in shock. “Excuse you!”

“Everyone please calm down!” Said Allura in an authoritative tone. “Lance, we brought Keith here because he is just a kit trying to find his littermate.” She said calmly. “Marcello was the kind of man who would have helped a kit.”

Lance had a slightly confused expression on his face. “Kit?” He quickly went to his bookshelf and grabbed a book. He quickly flipped through it before coming on a page and quickly reading through it. “Conception, blah, blah, blah, pregnancy, blah, blah, birth, blah, blah, blah… Ah, here we go kits. Let’s see… Kit is the general term used to distinguish an immature, or child, from a mature, or adult, demon. There are three kinds of kits; re-kit, bah-kit, and ka-kit. Re-kits are the youngest and are the equivalent to a human child ages 0-5. Bah-kits would be around the ages 6-15. Re-kits would be around 16-21. It is important to note that many re-kits still exhibit kit behaviour several decades into adulthood…” Lance looked genuinely surprised. “Keith, you’re a kid? Thought you were an adult?”

“I’m not a kit!” Snapped Keith… “If anything I’m a re-kit… I am practically an adult…”

Pidge chuckled a little and nudged Lance. “Dude, you summoned a baby and have been freaking out about a baby.”

Keith grumbled and pulled the blanket closer. He wasn’t even a baby. He hardly had any kit tendencies anymore anyway. “I’m an adult now.” Growled Keith. I just still do a few kit things…”

“Baby.” Said Pidge. “Small grumpy baby.”

“You’re the shortest one in here!”

“I’m old enough to drink!”

“You’re tiny! I could throw you across the room!”

“Try me demon boy I will kick you in the dick!”

“Hey guys, maybe we can calm down?” Suggested Hunk. “Look, Allura and Coran came here to see you Lance. Maybe you should like, pay attention to them? If you need us we’ll be in the kitchen. Okay?” He gestured for Pidge and Keith to follow him. Pidge happily followed the bigger man out, but Keith was still hesitant. He eventually sighed and followed the two down. 

When they got to the kitchen Pidge hopped up onto the counter top and looked at Keith. “So… you’re a kid? A demon kid?”

“I’m an adult!” Snapped Keith. “... My maturity is just a little out of whack since I’m not fully demon… But I know I am an adult.”

“How can you tell?” Asked Hunk.

“... You probably don’t want to know.” Muttered Keith. “You’d probably find it kind of gross…”

Pidge shrugged. “Well we aren’t eating. Go ahead.”

Keith blushed a little and pulled the blanket tighter around himself. “It’s a physiological change and I… Honestly I really don’t want to show you guys. It has to do with my eating habits and I just… It’s something that helps me eat larger things quickly. Even Shiro finds it a little gross and he’s mouth is practically a blender and meat grinder.” Fuck he missed Shiro.

Suddenly Pidge’s phone went off and they quickly answered it. Seconds later they were squealing with excitement. “I got it! I fucking got it! Fuck yeah!”

“The internship?” Asked Hunk.

“Fuck yeah! And it’s paid too!”

“Alright!” The two humans high-fived and hugged. Keith felt like he was missing something very important here. But as long as they stopped talking about him he really didn’t care too much.

***

“So we are Fae.” Said Coran. “And we want to offer you our services.”

Lance nodded a little as he heard him. “Well that’s nice of you to say, but you two have to understand, I don’t have any intention to keep this place. I was just looking for a way to send Keith back to wherever I accidentally summoned him from.”

“I would highly suggest otherwise.” Said Allura calmly. “Keith is still very young. He might be a re-kit or an adult as he claims, but he is still very young and is searching for his littermate. I would suggest that your best course of action would be to find Keith’s littermate and then send them both back.”

“His littermate is a manticore.” Said Lance. “From what I have heard and read, they aren’t too happy with humans.”

Coran shrugged. “Well as long as you are generally respectful of it, it shouldn’t be too much to handle… Anyway, getting back on track, Allura and I are elemental fae and we fun a herbal shop. Most of our inventory is for our less than human brethren for medicinal uses, but we are happy to offer you anything and everything we can to help you out. Our herbs can be quite useful for magic.”

“But I don’t want to be a warlock.” Said Lance.

“Oh, then are you going to join a coven?” He asked. “Then I guess you would be a witch and not a warlock.”

Lance groaned and face palmed. “Look, it’s not like I don’t appreciate you guys coming here and introducing yourselves to me, I’m not going to be a warlock or a witch, or whatever.”

Allura frowned a little and gestured to his hand. “But you are wearing a ring of power.”

“... I am wearing a what now?”

Allura pointed to his ring. “A ring of power. They are made from the vertebrae of the ancient ones. Very few of them are in existence. They are a very good magical aid and help the wearer with all kinds of magical tasks without needing spells to be said. In fact, I believe the fact that you are wearing the ring is what alerted us to the fact that we could return here.”

“...” Lance looked down at the ring and silently cursed it. This thing was going to cause him nothing but trouble, wasn’t it? Now in addition to being a GPS and translator it was also some screaming beacon that let everything magical know he was a warlock. Allegedly. The only warlock thing he had actually done was summon Keith and that was an accident.

Coran gave him a sympathetic look. “I am assuming you didn’t have much of a choice in the matter?”

“Yeah…”

Coran nodded and gently put his hand on his shoulder. “It’s okay. It’s understandable to be overwhelmed by things like this. We actually have something like this.” He looked through the boxt that they brought with them and took out a blue box. “Here you go. Calming tea. The real deal, not the kind of over the counter stuff that you get in a grocery store. This will help you relax, clear your mind, and think clearly.”

Lance took the box and nodded. “Um… Thanks I think?”

“You know-” said the older man. “-That ring doesn’t allow just anyone to wear it. They would have to have some kind of magic ability for the ring to stick.”

“Really?”

Both Allura and Coran nodded in agreement. “Of course.” Said Allura. “Many magic objects only work when someone who can use magic is in possession of them… But I must implore you, what are you going to do with Keith? He is still very young, even if he insists he isn’t a kit…”

Coran nodded in agreement. “Very true, and we’re more than happy to help you out when you need it. Our shop’s card is in the box. Call us anytime or come over if you want. One of us is usually in the shop, even if it’s closed.”

“Okay. I can do that.” Said Lance. “... So you guys are Fae? Don’t you guys kind of like, kill people and take children?”

Allura shrugged. “We’ve mellowed out a lot over the past few centuries. Fae do a lot less child snatching and people killing… Some still do, but we’ve urbanized. Now can we please get back to the kit you summoned? You have an obligation to take care of them since you summoned them.”

Lance groaned and sighed. “What am I meant to do? This thing eats bad people. Am I meant to drop him off at a prison and say; ‘have fun, I’ll be back to pick you up at eleven. Don’t play with your food too much’?”

“Well that is one way…” Said Coran. “But he is desperately trying to find his littermate. Find the littermate and you’ll make Keith happy. After that he’ll happily go back to where he came from.”

“Would it be bad if I just sent him away now?” Asked Lance.

“Very much so.” Said Allura. “He’s looking for his littermate because he still has lingering instincts to stay in his pack. If you send him back he will just find a crack and try to slip through again. It would be best for the kit’s physical and mental health if you do your duty as a summoner and look after them… You have looked into your duties, haven’t you?” She sighed. “I feel like this conversation is going in circles…”

Lance shrugged and gestured around the library. “I’ve been preoccupied with finding out how to send him back. Also didn’t really want to deal with a manticore. I’m still very new to this whole magic thing.”

Coran hummed a little as he twirled his mustache. “Well, if I could make a few suggestions? Since you summoned Keith, you technically have partial ownership over him until he completes the task you summoned him for. Until he is able to do that he will pretty much do whatever you say, within reason. He’s probably exhibited some traits of this already.”

Lance was going to correct him, but he did have to admit, Keith did obey him when he did tell him to tell Krolia what his Shiro was, when he did tell him to. Which was kind of weird. Maybe they were right? But to be honest it seemed kind of weird to order someone around, even if they are a demon… Maybe he would have answered the groups questions if Lance had been the one asking them and not freaking out in a corner? 

Before he could think this through he started running his mouth. “Okay. I take full responsibility for Keith. I shouldn’t have done what I did. I’ll do what I can to find his littermate and get them both back to where they belong.” He quickly snapped his mouth shut and was about to correct himself when Allura happily grabbed his hand.

“Thank you so much Lance.” She said. Damn her eyes were shining like fairy lights. They were almost mesmerizing. “If Keith just happened to slip through a crack we would have taken him, but since you summoned him… Well, we are just happy to know a kit is in safe hands.”

“Safest hands ever.” He said with a wink.

She smiled warmly at him. “Thank you. Kits are very important to fae. We’d like to know how you are going with finding Keith’s littermate when you come by to visit.”

“Sure thing. Anything for you. Um, you guys. Anything for you guys.”

Coran chuckled a little and cleared his throat. “Well, now that this has been sorted out, Allura and I have a shop to open up.”

Allura and Coran quickly said their goodbyes and Lance happily waved to them. Once they were out of the library he became acutely aware of the slight throbbing sensation coming from the finger the ring was on. He couldn’t help but give it a skeptical look. There was something really weird going on here, weirder than what was now his new normal. He needed to figure out what was going on and fast.


	8. Working together

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The boys finally get their acts together! Kind of! Kudos and comment when you can. Enjoy :D

_Fae is the general term used to describe any creature that is neither demon or angel that lived on earth, but is not human. Fae vary wildly on the spectrum between malevolent and benevolent and consist of many different types. Anything from a mermaid to a harpy can be technically considered fae._

_Fae tend to lean on the benevolent side of things when it comes to humans. Though it is very dependent on the fae type and the age of the human. In general they treat children more kindly than adults. Many fae used to kidnap children during the middle ages. Depending on the fae determined what the fate of the child._

_If the child was taken by something like a goblin or a troll they will more than likely be treated as a slave and eaten. If taken by something like a pixie, dwarf, or nymph the child will generally be treated very well and are usually adopted. Fairies generally stick to kidnapping pretty young women/men if they are part of the fairy court to be concubines for the ruling royal family. Elves usually attempt to try and take care of young children before finding them appropriate families._

_They generally enjoy calm places and are often found living nomadic lives out in forests, though as of the mid 1800’s they have started to integrate themselves into human society. Many have blended in extremely well and have set up small herbal shops to offer medicine and therapy for others within their communities so they do not have to travel far away from their homes for medical help._

_It is interesting to note many fae can still receive surgeries from human doctors as long as the surgery isn’t extremely invasive as most internal organs are similar if not the same as most humans with only slight abnormalities._

Lance hummed a little to himself as he closed the book shut. Did that mean Allura and Coran were elves? They were kind of trying to find Keith a proper place to stay since they saw him as a kit after all. He ran his fingers through his hair and started to look through his books for anything on summoning demons. When his pinky twitched as he passed his hand over a book he grabbed it and flipped through it until he found what he needed,.

_The relationship between Summoners and the summoned is similar to that between that of a familiar and their Master/Mistress, but not as strong. Where it’s a familiar’s duty to help their charge in any way, shape, or form, a summoned does not have that same responsibility._

_A summoned creature follows the basic orders given by the Summoner. The effectiveness of said orders depends on the strength of the summoned and the magic ability of the Summoner. For example, if a Summoner has little to no magic ability whatever they summon can easily run wild, subjugate, and even kill their Summoner. Low strength creatures are easier to control and are recommended for first time Summoners._

_It is important to note that any Summoner should research what they need to do to take care of whatever they summoned. If for some reason a Summoner has summoned a kit it is highly recommended that the kit be reunited with their packs as soon as possible. Not doing so can lead to death from older members of the pack for kidnapping their kit._

Lance sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. Okay, he got it. The universe was telling him that he needed to help Keith find Shiro. He sighed dramatically again as he left the library and walked down to the kitchen to talk to Hunk and Pidge about this. 

To his surprise, Keith was the only one there. He was perched on the kitchen bench all wrapped up in the blanket he came in. He looked over at Lance and gave him a slightly sleepy nod.

“Hi.”

“Where are Hunk and Pidge?”

“Pidge got something called an email, and was jumping around all excited for a thing called a paid internship.” Said Keith. “She needed Hunk to drive her to confirm some details with her professor. Hunk said he would be back in a few hours.”

“Oh…” Well Lance didn’t really expect that, but okay. He could deal with it. “But she got the internship? That’s awesome! She’s been dying to work at Daibazaal robotics ever since she made a potato clock. They are like leading the way when it comes to prosthetic limbs and like bionic eyes and ears. Last I heard they were so close to being able to make blind people see again.”

Keith looked at him with a blank expression. “Daibazaal? That honestly sounds like you sneezed with a mouthful of food.”

“Oh hush your whore mouth… Wait, should I be swearing in front of you? You’re a kit.”

“I AM NOT A FUCKING KIT!” Yelled Keith.

“Zip it.” Said Lance calmly.

Keith growled at him but said nothing.

“... Okay good. Look…” Lance leaned against the counter beside him. “... I’ll help you find Shiro.”

“... Really?”

“Yeah… I might not know a lot about demons and stuff like that, but you know… Your family is really big for you and I know that feeling all too well.”

Keith looked surprised. “Family is important to you? But you knew nothing about Marcello.”

Lance shrugged. “That’s because he got disowned by my family before I was born. I didn’t know he existed or any of that until he died… My family is very close knit and very large. I kinda find it weird to have a small family, but like I understand… Shiro is important to you. He’s your family. He’s important to you.”

“... Will you tell Krolia about Shiro if you find him?” He asked quietly.

Lance shook his head. “No. As long as you two get the hell out of here as soon as you find him, I won’t breathe a word.”

“... Okay.” Keith looked down at the ground and sighed as he tapped his feet together.

“... So what was in the safe?”

“Huh?”

“What was in the safe?” Asked Lance again. “What did Shiro leave in Marcello’s safe?”

Keith frowned a little but he shrugged off the blanket and took off his backpack. He hesitated for a moment and pulled out the object bundled up in cloth. “You have to promise you’ll give it back… Shiro is probably going to beat my ass when he finds out I’ve been running around with it…”

“I’m not going to steal it. Whatever it is.” Keith huffed and unwrapped it, putting it in front of him. Of all the things it could have been, Lance wasn’t expecting to see a skull. It looked like it had been burnt and glued back together with gold. “Wow… Is this human?” 

“As far as I know.” Said Keith. “Shiro just had this with him almost the entire time I’ve known him. It’s the most important thing in the world to him and I… He gets upset when I ask too many questions about it...”

Lance nodded a little and gently reached out to touch it. “If I carried around a human skull I’d probably keep quiet ab-” All words completely cut of in his throat as he was hit with an unexpected wave of emotions. His vision instantly went blurry as his chest tightened. Ugly fat tears rolled down his face as he choked back a sob. Anxiety, regret, sorrow, depression and rage were consuming him to the point he wasn’t fully sure he understood where he was right at that very moment. The he heard a whisper. It was small, but loud enough for him to make out what it what it was.

“Adam, I’m so sorry.”

Suddenly the pain was gone and Keith was standing a few feet away from him, clutching the skull close to his chest. “What the absolute fuck was that Lance?!” He snapped. “What the fuck?”

Lance’s legs were shaking as he leaned over the counter top. His whole body was shaking and he felt like he was going to be sick. He wasn’t fully sure how to process these emotions that were suddenly forced upon him with no context. It was just blind emotion.

“... Me?” He said quietly. “What the fuck is that skull? How do you not feel or see anything when you touch it? How can you not feel anything?”

Keith looked a little surprised when Lance said that and looked down at the skull. “Wow. You’re more powerful than Shiro let on… I guess he has some real strong attachments to you, huh?”

“What?” Lance rubbed his eyes and tried to get rid of the tears that kept spilling for no reason.

“Sometimes when demons become attached to objects a bit of our essence become attached to them.” Said Keith. “... I knew Shiro had some really strong emotions attached to this but I didn’t think it was this powerful… Are you some kind of empath?”

“Empath? I don’t know. I just… What the fuck happened to that skull? It looks like it had been set on fire.”

Keith shrugged. “I don’t know. I just know it’s called Adam and it’s the most important thing in the world to Shiro… Do you think you can track Shiro with this? Shiro doesn’t want me to find him but you could track him with this? Maybe?”

“... I don’t really know how to do tracking or anything like that.”

“But you summoned me and you know some magic.” Said Keith. “And you said you would help me.”

“I will help you.” Said Lance. “I just… Wait… What’s the time anyway…” He quickly checked his phone and screamed internally. “Shit! I have to go! I’m gonna be so fucking late!” He quickly raced out the door with Keith quickly following him.

“Where are you going?!”

“I have school!” Said Lance. “You stay here and try not to destroy anything or draw attention to yourself. I’ll be back later!” He quickly took out his phone and desperately tried to call Hunk to get a ride. His professor was going to skin him alive if he was late again.

***

Keith watched Lance quickly run off and he walked back inside. He carefully wrapped Adam’s skull back up and put it into the backpack. This was okay. He and Lance were going to work together to try and find Shiro. They could do this. They could find Shiro and things would be okay.

Now that he was alone and kind of had a game plan Keith could actually relax a little. He didn’t realise how tense he had been throughout the past few days. He smiled a little to himself and yawned. Stress was too much some days and after he’d been stressed and relatively sleep deprived he just wanted to curl up somewhere and sleep.

He grabbed the blanket from the kitchen and went to look for somewhere he felt safe to sleep for a few hours. He eventually found a small, empty closet. It was dark, musky, kind of stuffy, and he’d have to pull his knees up to his chest to be able to fit comfortably. It was perfect.

Keith went to a guest room and took a sheet and a few pillows off the bed before he went back to the closet. He quickly laid the pillows down with a placed the blanket over it. It wasn’t really meant to be a nest per say, just a little sleeping area he would feel comfortable laying on for a few hours. He made himself comfortable and held the backpack close to his chest before covering himself with the weighted blanket.

“... Too hot.” He grumbled. With an annoyed huff Keith quickly shed his clothes and snuggled back under the blanket. So much better now. He closed his eyes and pretended that Shiro’s body was wrapped around him and keeping him close. He felt like a kit again. So warm and safe with someone holding him.

He felt small pinpricks of of heat in the corners of his eyes. As small tear tracks started to run down his face. He was still alone. No matter what happened there was someone there with him. Someone that would keep him safe.

“Shiro…” He whimpered. “Shiro… Where are you Shiro?”

***

Searing pain was just going to be Shiro’s new normal. Out of nowhere the room filled with that disgusting gas again and Shiro passed out. When he woke up again he was strapped to a slab with people slowly and painfully drilling something into his arm and along his back. He roared in pain and tried to squirm away, but the second he did he got a swift and painful punch to the back of the head.

Seconds after the impact he heard dark laughter. “Serves you right for taking my eye you piece of shit.”

“Sendak!” Snapped a voice. “Haggar won’t appreciate you battering the merchandise… No matter how much it deserves it.”

“Fucker needs to learn its place. He’s lucky he was allowed to keep both his eyes. If it were up to me the fucker would have been awake every time we cut it apart… I would have scooped out both its eyes with a melon baller.”

“You will do no such thing.” Growled an angry woman’s voice. “Lift his head up.” Nails painfully dig into his scalp as his head was forced up. He looked into the eyes of the bitch who cornered him and caught him in the first place, Haggar. He growled at her but she just ignored it. “One more chance.” She said. “One more chance to do what I told you to do and then I will flay your mind.”

“Go to hell.” He spat. “I couldn’t fucking do it the first time. I can’t do it again it it isn’t there.”

Hagger glared at him and snapped her fingers. Whoever was holding his head slammed his face back into the metal slab. “It is there. There is a new owner living in the house. You know it, I know it, everyone knows it. There is a new Warlock in this stupid city. You’re going to go back there and get what those Marmora bastards stole from us.”

“They didn’t steal anything you bitch.” He growled. “The Marmora coven stole nothing. You’re just a bunch of selfish, entitled-” He words were cut off when his face got slammed once again into the slab.

“Fine.” Growled Haggar. “Flay it is. We will find what you hold most dear and use it against you. Make you relive your worst moments again and again until you crack.” She dug her nails his his skull. Immediately waves of pain coursed through Shiro’s body, starting from deep inside his skull. It was a terrible, throbbing pain that made him feel like his brain was going to explode.

***

It had just been a typical day for young Manticore as he strolled through the thick undergrowth of the forest. He made his way to a hill and happily made himself at home in the sun. It was just a typical, normal day… Then he heard the distressed chirping of a kit.

Just coming out of his kit phase himself, Shiro was mildly concerned that there was a pack nearby that wouldn’t take kindly to a Manticore being around. Then he saw it. A small kit with raven hair cautiously walking between the trees. There was something off about the way the kit was chirping. They kept looking behind their shoulders, like they weren’t sure they were doing it right.

They sat down, looked around, then started to completely wail and whine. Letting out all manner of scared and confused chirps. It tore at Shiro’s heart to see such a distressed kit. In fact he was about to go over and see what was wrong with them when a lumbering beast burst through the undergrowth and started charging towards him.

The kit let out a surprised chirp and quickly ducked as a larger creature jumped from the treetops and ripped the beast’s head off. This demon looked very similar to their kit. They must have been a pack. A dar and kit out for a hunt. That was pretty nice to see. He smiled as he watched the dar pick up their kit and spin them around while cooing at what a good job they did. The kit made happy squealing sounds as they wriggled and tried to get out of their dar’s arms. 

It reminded Shiro of his younger kit days with his pack. Manticore tended to have all female packs and looked after their kits together. Male Manticore stayed at the fringes and usually didn’t interact with the females unless they were given permission. Even then it was still very dangerous when anything of that nature happened.

Suddenly there was a rumble and the two demons stopped and looked in the direction of the noise. More of those beasts appeared and started growling. The dar slowly put the kit down and stood in front of them. Two of the beasts leapt at the dar and he struggled to fight them both off while keeping his kit safe. 

He yelled something and the kit bolted away as fast as they could. When they did one of the beasts quickly took chase. The adult could struggle but survive this attack, the kit on the other hand… Shiro quickly took chase and stalked after the beast and the kit.

The kit had somehow managed to find some fallen rocks and logs to hide in. It was a good plan, but the beast could and was easily ripping his hiding spot open. The kit was screaming at this point. Not concerned or distressed chirps. Full on terror. Like it knew it was going to die and was pleading for someone to save them.

“...” Shiro quickly ran over and swatted the beast away. To be fair, he wouldn’t have even bothered hunting something this small for himself. Too small. Too weak. It easily broke its back and died when it hit a nearby tree.

The kit went quiet for a few seconds before he continued to chirp and make distressed sounds.

“...” Shiro crouched down by the rocks. “Hey. It’s okay. I got rid of it.”

The kit looked up at him with his big yellow eyes and hissed. He looked scared. Absolutely terrified. It broke Shiro’s heart to see such a small kit so upset. 

He reached out to the kit very slowly. “It’s okay. I know you’re scared but I won’t hurt you.” The kit glared at him and bared his teeth. “... I can take you back to your dar.”

“Dar?” The kit let out sad distressed chirps. “Dar… Dar… I want my dar! I want my dar!”

Shiro nodded and reached out to him again. “I’m Shiro. I can take you over to your dar. He’s fine. Your dar is strong and can take care of himself… You did really good running away like that. Your dar is going to be so proud at how fast you can run… You want to ride on my back? It’s nice and warm back there.”

The kit hesitated for a moment before quickly scrambling out of their hiding spot and clambered onto Shiro’s back, pulling at his mane and kicking at his wings as he did so. He growled a few times and kicked him again for good measure. 

Shiro laughed at the kits antics and started to walk back towards where the kit’s dar was. The older demon was walking towards them. He looked a little battered and scratched, but no worse for where. That was until he saw his kit on Shiro’s back

“Put my kit down right now or I will fucking kill you.”

“...” Shiro very slowly and carefully pulled the kit off his back and put them down, taking a few steps away. “I didn’t touch your kit. I do not want your kit.”

The kit quickly jumped out of his hands and ran to his dar. His dar picked him up and held him close. The dar and his kit quickly reunited and kit made happy sounds as his dar held him in his arms.

Shiro smiled a little and went to walk away when the kit called for him. “Shiro! Don’t go!” Both Shiro and the kit’s dar looked down at them. The kit was squirming and trying to reach for him. “Dar, Shiro saved me. Shiro… pack?”

The kit’s dar looked down at them in shock and then back to Shiro. He growled slightly at him and took a small step towards him, sniffing the air around him. He didn’t seem to know what to make of Shiro, and Shiro wasn’t too sure what kind of demons these were either.

After what seemed like forever, the demon man nodded and held his hand out to Shiro. “I’m Akira. This is Keith… Keith thinks you should join our pack. What do you say? Kit instincts are better at figuring out who the good and bad people are.”

“Shiro! Join our pack!” Said Keith excitedly. “Come on! Join us! Join us! Join us!”

“...” Shiro smiled softly at the kit. Keith was adorable. “Okay. I guess I can’t say no to that.” Keith smiled at him and made happy chirps. It was the first time in a long time that Shiro had been around a kit. He was happy to be part of a new pack. He wondered how they would act and how he would be a part of it. It made him smile and give off a small happy chirp himself.

***

Haggar let go of his head and Shiro whimpered in pain. He just heard her laugh. “Keith was it? Your precious littermate? How about we actually summon him here and get him to do your task?”

“NO!” Yelled Shiro. “TOUCH HIM AND I’LL FUCKING KILL YOU! I’LL FUCKING KILL YOU! YOU FUCKING BI-” Once again Shiro’s face was slammed against the slab, now throughly caked in his blood. 

He whimpered as Haggar whispered into his ear. “Does this mean you’ll cooperate with us now? Let me make this clear, Manticore, you are going to go to the McCalin estate, kill the new warlock, take his ring and bring us the deed. Got it? Do it and we’ll let you go… Fail and we will bring your littermate here to do your job for you… And when he’s done we’ll give him another task, and another, and another. You think what’s happened to you is bad? We’ll do a million times worse to you Keith.”

Shiro roared and tried to pull himself free. “I’LL KILL YOU! I’LL FUCKING KILL YOU! YOU FUCKING WHORE! I’LL RIP YOU OPEN AND EAT YOUR GUTS!”

She just laughed and walked off. “Pathetic. Finish up and throw him back in his cell… I do not care what condition you leave him in Sendak, but he can’t be missing any more limbs or senses.”

He heard someone grunting by him. “Fine.” Sendak punched him in the back of the head again.


	9. Beast blooded

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I may or may not have written myself into a corner with a few things and I kind of needed a work around (mainly it has to do with Keith/Shiro's timeline, like some stuff happens in super ancient times, but in some parts in modern times Keith should be a kit, like a little kit, but logically he should be the age he is now? I need to stop messing around with time shit. Bleh). Kudos and comment when you can. Enjoy :D

Later that evening the trio went back to the estate with a bunch of fast food to celebrate Pidge’s internship. They would have gone back to their place, but Keith was technically waiting for Lance to come back because he told him to wait. Still they walked in with pizza and sat down in some random room.

While Hunk and Pidge set up the food Lance went to find Keith. He called out a few times but he didn’t get a reply. He had no idea where Keith was. He looked down at his ring and hummed a little. If it worked for books and random plates it could work for demons too, right?

“Okay ring… Where is Keith?” He felt a slight pull and followed the pull until his finger started to tingle and he was standing outside of a cupboard in the hallway.

Unusual, but whatever. Lance slowly opened the door. “Hello? Keith?” He looked down at the ground to see a lump laying down in the middle of a bunch of blankets. Near the edge he could see a tuft of black hair which he assumed was where Keith’s head was. He looked around the cupboard and grabbed a broom and lightly poked him with it. “You gonna wake up any time soon?”

Keith growled slightly and lightly pulled the blanket off his head. He had crazy bed head. “What?”

“I’m back.”

“Oh! Are we going to look for Shiro now?” He quickly sat up and let the blanket fall off his body. It was then that Lance realised that Keith was naked. Again.

“... For fuck’s sake! Put some fucking pants on!”

Keith looked down at himself and then hissed at Lance. “What? It’s fucking hot in here!”

“Then why are you sleeping in here?!”

“Because it’s comfortable!”

“If it’s comfortable then why are you naked?!”

“Because sleeping in clothes is for weirdos and people that live in cold climates!”

“What if there is a fire? Someone breaks in? You’re just naked!”

“Easier to clean up the blood after I kill the intruder!”

“... YOU CAN’T SOLVE ALL YOUR PROBLEMS BY EATING THEM!”

“IT HAS WORKED FOR ME SO FAR!”

“PUT SOME PANTS ON!”

“MAKE ME!”

“YOU ARE INSUFFERABLE!”

“HISSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!”

“DON’T YOU HISS AT ME!” Lance poked Keith with the broom handle. “PUT SOME PANTS ON! DAMN IT!” Keith hissed some more and bit the broom handle, refusing to let it go. “Keith… Drop it.” Keith growled and pulled back. “Drop it. Now.” Keith growled and quickly shook his head, almost knocking Lance over. Lance felt like a damn animal rescuer trying to wrangle a rabid raccoon out from under someone’s house. “KEITH! DROP IT!” 

“Um, you okay there buddy?” Called Hunk from down the end of the hallway.

Lance huffed, looked over at him and pouted. “Keith is being a dildo! And he won’t put on pants!” Keith quickly jerked his head and Lance almost fell over. “STOP IT!”

Hunk nodded a little and slowly walked over to him. “Are you poking him with a broom?”

“Yeah, to wake him up! Get in here and help me!”

Hunk sighed and walked over to Lance and took the broom out of his hands. Once the broom was out of Lance’s hands Keith spat it out and glared at him. “Fuck you.”

Lance stuck his tongue out at him and Keith copied. Hunk just shook his head. “Come on guys. Pidge is really excited for her internship. I know you guys might not like each other that much, but please be nice for Pidge… If you don’t want to come out you don’t have to Keith.”

“... Thanks.” Said Keith quietly. He pulled his blanket up around himself and averted his eyes. He kind of reminded Lance of a child getting scolded. “Close the door when you go.”

Hunk nodded and closed the door. He then looked at Lance and shook his head. “Seriously Lance?”

“What? He seems to tolerate you and Pidge. Thought he might like to see some human stuff, but no, I’m the asshole?”

“You poked him with a broom.”

“If I woke him with a poke he could have bitten off my hand!”

“Just leave him alone.” Hunk patted Lance’s back and directed him towards the food. “If he wants to come out and hang he will. Let’s just eat some pizza. Okay?”

Lance pouted but followed Hunk’s movements. “Fine…”

***

Keith huffed a little and pulled the blanket closer. He thought they were going to find Shiro. Lance said they would, but now they were celebrating something called an internship? He didn’t even know what that was. If Marcello was here he would have helped him right away. 

Marcello was a crazy, weird, slightly creepy guy, but he was a good person. He always had a comforting smell. One that made him feel like he was part of his pack, but not really part of his pack. It made him feel relaxed around the older man. He gave him pig bones to chew on while he was trying to figure out how to stop him from biting everything. Lance didn’t smell anything like Marcello. He smelt like pride and the ocean.

Lance was loud and obnoxious. He just wanted to get rid of him as soon as possible, and Keith was okay with that. He didn’t want to be around them anymore than he had to. Humans were jerks anyway. He was a lot better at being alone… Or at least alone with Shiro. 

Okay he still had kit tendencies. He was only just physically an adult. He still had childish wants and needs. He hated it. He should be fine being in his own. He shouldn’t be this upset about Shiro leaving him… What if Shiro did leave him? What if he didn’t want to be his littermate anymore now that Keith was technically an adult? What if he saw Shiro again he’d tell him to go away and leave him alone?

The thought of being abandoned terrified Keith to no end. If Shiro wanted to leave their pack of two he wasn’t stop him, but they would have talked to each other first, right? Shiro would have talked to him and then they would have gone their separate ways… He wouldn’t just abandon him, would he? Shiro didn’t just leave him because he was an adult now. Right?

Keith let out a small distressed whimper. Shiro wouldn’t be around forever. Was this just his way of saying he wanted to go and do his own thing? Was Shiro really letting he go just like that? Did he do something wrong? Even if he had done something wrong he wanted Shiro to tell him that to his face.

He didn’t want to be alone now.

He pulled on some clothes and quietly made his way down to where Lance and his friends were. Keith just followed the smell of people food. He was pretty sure that they didn’t really want him there. After all, he was just there and they were friends. They probably didn’t really want anything to do with him. So he sat next to the door as close as he dared and just listened to them talking.

“We are not worthy!” Chanted Lance. “We are not worthy! We are not worthy!”

“Cram it Warlock.” Said Pidge playfully.

“I’m not a warlock!” Whined Lance. “I don’t have some magic sugar daddy giving me magic for sacrifices or something.”

Hunk chuckled. “Lance, I don’t think you can follow D&D rules when it comes to what a Warlock is.”

“Why not? Are you the one with the magic ring glued to your hand? Nope. Didn’t think so.”

Pidge laughed. “Yeah, whatever man. Ask Kolivan about the difference. As far as I can tell is that a witch is part of a coven and a warlock does magic on their own… Might be a good idea if you join a coven.”

“I don’t wanna!” Whined Lance. “This is so gonna fuck with my school stuff! All this magic crap is like some kind of extracurricular activity that I’m not even getting graded for! It’s bullshit!”

Hunk sighed. “Whatever you say buddy… Are you going to stay here tonight or are we going to take Keith home with us?”

“I… I don’t know.” Lance sighed and there was a pause in the room. “Maybe I should stay here or something? Like, There’s so much magic stuff here and weird shit keeps happening so like… Maybe I should just maybe think about moving some of my stuff in here?”

“One second you want to be here and the next you don’t, and then you do.” Said Pidge. “Make up your mind already.”

“Ah, shut your mouth.” Whined Lance. “No more talking shit about me. Let’s talk about you and your internship.”

“Yeah, you haven’t really told us much about it.” Said Hunk.

Pidge laughed and clapped her hands. “Okay, so like, I’m mainly going to be doing coffee runs and stuff, but I’ll be assisting someone working on code in their robotics department. It’s going to be so cool! I can’t wait to see what programs they use. I love it! I haven’t even been there yet, but it’s going to be so cool! My professor is going to go with me tomorrow with a few others and get all our IDs and stuff. It’s gonna be the best!”

“You’re gonna knock them dead Pidge!”

“Hey Lance, where is the bathroom on this floor?”

“From here? Um… Third door on the right I think?”

“Okay. Thanks buddy.” Hunk left the room and almost walked into Keith. “Oh, hey Keith. What are you doing out here?”

“... Didn’t want to be alone.” He muttered. “Didn’t know if I’d be allowed to join you guys after I bit the broom.”

Hunk nodded a little. “I see… Well, when I get back want to come in with me?”

“Not a good idea.” Keith muttered. “I pissed Lance off.”

“... Just stay here. Don’t go anywhere.” Said Hunk. “Be back in a bit.” Hunk quickly walked down the hallway and into a room. A few minutes later Hunk came back and was wiping his hands on the front of his pants. “Okay. You okay there buddy?”

Keith shrugged. “I guess?”

“Okay good. Come in with me. We have lots of food, and if it’s nothing you can eat we can get you something to drink?” He suggested. Keith was touched that Hunk wanted to include him. So he just nodded and followed Hunk into the room. Hunk grinned and put his hand on Keith’s shoulder. “Hey guys. Guess who I found walking around?”

Lance looked over at them. “Hey, he found some pants. Good job Keith.”

Keith hissed at him and sat on a chair as far away from everyone as possible. “Shut up Lance. You woke me up and now I’m in a bad mood.”

Lance rolled his eyes and drank something orange out of a cup. Keith narrowed his eyes at the liquid in his cup wondering what the fuck it was. He hadn’t really seen that kind of stuff before. Was it an alcohol? Maybe. He wasn’t too sure.

Pidge seemed to notice him staring and waved her arms around to get his attention. “Hey, Keith! I have a question for you.”

“Yeah?”

“You want some soda?”

“... So-da?”

“Yeah soda.” She held up a large orange bottle. “Orange soda. Can you have soda?”

Keith shrugged. “Never had it before.”

“What about pizza? You ever eaten pizza before?”

“When I hunt and need to blend in my food will feed me pizza. It’s okay.” Said Keith. “I prefer warm, raw meat though. Especially when it’s on the bone. I like the crunch… Innards are better though. Soft and squishy.”

“... Pretty sure you can buy livers and kidneys from butcher shops.” Said Hunk. “But like, that’s if you just eat meat, and not like, specific things… You eat sin or something?”

Keith nodded a little. “Yeah. Sin flavours meat and that makes it tasty to me… Animals and non sentient creatures are the base level and just taste simple and gamey to me. Sentient creatures that can tell the difference between right and wrong always have some sin in them and I can just tell what it is by scent. I can tell by smelling someone what their biggest sin is and each sin flavours meat differently.”

Pidge nodded and poured Keith a cup of orange soda. “Neat… So what are our sins? Like, what can you smell when you smell us?”

Keith frowned and sniffed the air. He hadn’t really told anyone what their sins were before. That wasn’t what he was there for. He pointed at Pidge. “Pride. With strong hints of narcissism. Sloth too.” 

Lance snickered. “Yeah Pidge. Go for a run or something.”

She stuck her tongue out at him. “Shut up Lance.”

Keith ignored him and sniffed the air again. “Speaking of pride, the resident warlock over here needs to be knocked down a peg or two or I might have to consider biting his arm off.”

Lance gasped. “You take that back!”

“What? You are a prideful dick.” Said Keith.

“No, fuck that.” Said Lance. “I know I’m a prideful motherfucker. Take back that quip about being a warlock.”

Keith rolled his eyes. “Lance, you’re a warlock. Get over it.” He sniffed the air a few more times. “Let’s see…” He pointed to Hunk. “Mainly gluttony. But out of the three of you, Hunk is the least sinful. No sin-eater would even consider going after him. He’s as innocent as a child… You two on the other hand need to humble yourselves. You’ll be in deep shit if a demon that likes eating prideful people comes around.”

Lance scoffed and waved him off. “Of course Hunk’s the perfect cinnamon roll out of all of us.”

“Hunk is too pure for us filthy heathens.” Said Pidge.

“Awwww, you guys.” Cooed Hunk.

The trio continued to talk about things that Keith didn’t understand so he just sniffed the drink that Pidge gave him. It smelled really sweet, but not like juice. It was more like… Well Keith didn’t really know what to think about it. He took a sip and cringed a little. Turns out this soda was fuzzy juice. He didn’t know how to feel about this fuzzy juice. He put the cup aside and curled up on the chair.

He liked watching the three of them talking and didn’t mind that they weren’t really including him much. He was kind of feeling sleepy now. He hadn’t realised how sleepy he had been lately… But he didn’t want to fall asleep in front of these people. He wanted to go back to his cupboard to sleep. He stretched and gave a big yawn.

When he did yawn all three humans jumped back and cried out in shock. Keith just gave them a confused look. “What?”

***

Keith just pulled off the single most horrific shit Lance had ever seen in his life. Sure he was just yawning, but fuck it was scary. His jaw had unhinged and then his lower jaw split open and swung open like a pair of insect pincers. There was also some strange flap of skin and muscle that peeled back showing off all of his tongue and the inside on his throat. It looked like it was covered in teeth and insect legs. They only saw it for a few seconds, but it was enough for them all to get a reaction.

Pidge jumped up and quickly moved over to him. “Dude, how did your face do that? You can’t even tell your skin split open… That’s really cool. Fucked up, but cool.”

Keith shrugged. “Yeah, the face splitting thing is a little weird, and I get that, but that’s how I eat. My mouth splits like that so it’s easier to cut through flesh and bones on bigger things…I can usually just unhinge my jaw…”

“And those little grabby insect arms? What are those?” Asked Pidge excitedly.

“It helps pull food into my mouth when I eat.” Said Keith. “And the smaller teeth in my throat help me grind up bones. They aren’t sharp. They are just for grinding.”

Lance frowned a little. “I didn’t read anything about sin-eaters being able to open up their jaws like that.”

Keith shrugged. “That’s because sin-eaters can’t do that.”

Now Lance was confused. “But you’re a sin-eater.”

“I’m half sin-eater.” Said Keith. “One quarter human and one quarter beast blooded.”

Everyone was confused. Keith was just throwing things out there for them now. Lance groaned a little and held his hands up. “Okay, what the hell is beast blooded?” Seconds later Lance almost got knocked out by a book flying at his face. “WHO THREW THAT?! PIDGE I AM LOOKING AT YOU!”

Pidge held her hands up. “Dude, I am right here! You would have seen me! I’m right by Keith!”

Lance glared at her and slowly turned his head to Hunk. “Hunk? You?”

Hunk shook his head. “Not me buddy. One hand on my pizza, one hand holding my drink.”

Lance then looked down at his hand and glared at his ring. “... I blame you for this. Fucking magic ring bullshit.”

“What almost knocked you out?” Asked Keith.

Lance frowned and looked through the book, stopping on a page. “Oh. It’s stuff about beast blooded.” He quickly read out the paragraphs for them.

_Beast blooded is a term used in the supernatural community for those that have demonic lineage, but have very little to no demonic physical traits. Most beast blooded appear human or are in fact human, to an extent. The most common example of beast blooded individuals would be witches. _

_This is due to many shady dealings between demons and humans back in the early years before it was common and the basics of demonic dealings was completely understood. Many demons would have sex with humans and this produced beast blooded children. _

_There were several demons that helped create covens this way. One of the most interesting covens to note would be the Marmora coven, named after their demon patron’s namesake. Marmora helped seed the first generation of the coven. Marmora was a lot more involved with their coven and allegedly blessed the beast blooded members of their coven with long life and rejuvenation unparallel with any other. _

_Fourth generation Marmora members are indistinguishable from humans, apart from their healing factor and long life spans. They also have what many refer to as “demonic lineage” which one can only obtain through being beast blooded. This demonic lineage gives an individual to physically change into a more demonic form. This is usually only happens during a time of great emotional stress._

“... So your mum is like beast blooded?” Asked Pidge. “Which is why you can do the jaw thing?”

Keith nodded. “Yeah. My mum is fourth generation Marmora. She was born around the tenth century.”

Lance would have called bullshit, but considering all the weird shit he had been going through he was just going to keep his mouth shut about that. “... Wait… Time lined are getting mixed up in my head… How old are you?” Asked Lance.

Keith shrugged. “I don’t know. I don’t keep track of those things… You’re either kit or an adult. Aging is very different… But I was born around the middle of the thirteenth century.”

“... Shit you’re old.” Muttered Lance. “... So how did you see my uncle when you were teething?”

“Magic.” Said Keith. “Not sure what kind but it was the first time my parents had met Marcello and I he already knew who we were, he hit on my sar and dar which confused them a lot. Then he went on about time and space bending around and being bullshit. I wasn’t paying much attention. I was preoccupied with biting the door frame.”

On one hand that sounded like bullshit, on the other hand he didn’t care anymore. Time magic was a thing. Fuck this noise Lance was done with this. He wanted to go back to bed… But he had three readings to do for tomorrow’s class. He wanted to stab himself in the eye.


	10. Found

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Long chapter, but it was fun. Kudos and comment when you can. Enjoy :D

Lance wanted to die right in the middle of class. He was pretty sure that all the crazy shit that happened during the past few days and made him lose his mind ever so slightly. He was pretty sure he was seeing people with more non human features. He couldn’t tell if that was a symptom of the ring or if he just lost is mind. He was pretty sure he lost his mind.

He sat down under a tree outside and silently weighed up his options. It seemed like the level of complete bullshit that was his school work was going to really start piling up. Once he figured all this stuff out he could get back to concentrating on his school work. He needed to do this. He couldn’t keep doing all this magic stuff. 

He groaned and closed his eyes. Everything sucked. Hopefully Keith wasn’t making his life more difficult while he was here. He could just imagine the bastard ripping shit up or dragging a dead body back into the house to eat. Fuck, that would be so bad if he did. He didn’t need police officers looking into him right now.

When he opened his eyes, the sight of a very orange moustache caught his attention. Coran, the older fae, was walking around with a bag in one hand and a note in the other. He looked a little lost.

“... I am so going to regret this…” Lance got up and walked over to him. “Hey Coran.”

Coran smiled at him. “Ah, hello there Lance. Oh, maybe you can help me out a little. I’m slightly lost here. I’m looking for a dormitory building. I got a little order to deliver some mers, and I am slightly lost.” He held the paper out to Lance and he quickly read over it. 

“Oh yeah. I know where that is. I’ll show you.”

“Thank you so much.” Coran happily. “You’re a real lifesaver lad.”

Lance just smiled and showed Coran where the dorm is. He quickly went inside and came back out without the bag. “Did it go well?” He asked.

Coran grinned. “Ah yes. Swirn, Plaxum, and Blumfump were very happy to get their liquet-caeli weed.”

“... What?”

“Oh, they are mers and need to take a daily dose of liquet-caeli weed. They were running low and just needed a top up. Allura and I do small runs for people every once in a while. That’s all… Are you okay? You don’t look too good?”

Lance shrugged. “Just a little tired I guess?”

“Have you had any of the tea Allura and I gave you?”

“Not really…”

“Do you have any classes now?”

Lance shook his head. “No. I just finished off my last class for the day.”

Coran nodded and smiled. “How about you come back to the shop with me? I can get you a spot of tea. It’ll be good for you.”

“... Yeah, sure. Why not?”

Coran smiled and the two of them walked back over to their small herbal shop. Allura was finishing ringing up someone at the cash register and smiled at the two of them when they came in. “Hello you two. Do you need something Lance?”

“I invited him over for some nice calming tea.” Said Coran. “The poor lad is studying and doing warlock duties.”

Allura nodded and quickly started to gather some herbs and spices. “Sounds stressful. Oh, and before I forget, I have an order for aspero-pellis ointment. Same dormitory as the liquet-caeli weed. Right by the cash register.” Coran nodded and happily grabbed the ointment before walking out. 

Lance frowned a little and looked around the shop. It smelt like all kinds of different spices. He was sure he could smell cinnamon somewhere.

Allura smiled happily at him and started making tea right on the countertop like it was nothing. She didn’t even need to start a fire to boil the water. She just drew a symbol on the countertop and put the kettle there.

Lance watched curiously. “So…”

“Yes?”

“You and Coran are fae?”

“Yes.”

“Specifically… Elves?”

“Technically, yes.” Said Allura. “If you want to get super technical we are Alteans. We would possibly be considered um… Whatever the most magical depiction of elves are in human mythology. We are more in tune with magic as compared to other elves or fae ain general.”

“I see… So um, the other day, I gotta ask… Did you bewitch me the other day when you came over?”

“... I am so sorry.” Muttered Allura. She nervously played with her hair. “I was concerned about Keith. He is a very, very young adult… And I am only called him an adult because he insists that he is. I still think he is a kit… Anyway, I only wanted to make sure that Keith would have a safe place to stay until he found his littermate… And if anything it was just a little nudge… Bewitching is a very common thing among our kind… I’m surprised Keith didn’t try it on you when you first summoned him.”

“Huh, I guess I’m a little surprised that he…” Keith had tried to bewitch him. When they first met Keith had looked him dead in the eyes and tried to get him to tell him his name. Then when he didn’t answer right away Keith got all flustered. “He did try to bewitch me, but it didn’t work?”

“Not surprised.” Said Allura as she poured them both some tea. “Young adults have difficulty bewitching people. Kit’s can’t do it at all… And it can be very hard to bewitch someone with magical abilities. Also, as Keith’s summoner it isn’t very likely his powers of manipulation would work very well against you.”

“Really?”

“Yes.” She sipped her tea and sighed contently. “This is always nice… So how has your magic abilities been going? Cast any magic or do any weird magic things lately?”

Lance shrugged. “I touched a skull and cried… I think Keith said I might be an empath?”

At the mention of empath, Allura’s eyes it up. “Really? You’re an empath? That’s so cool! I mean, your magic can be a little unpredictable, but that is really cool! It has been a while since I’ve met an empath Warlock.”

“... And what does that mean?”

She grinned. “That means most of your magic is controlled by your emotions. It can take a little while to properly master, but once you do you can do a lot of interesting things. A lot of female witches are natural empaths due to human social pressures, but male empaths are a lot harder to find and many don’t even acknowledge that they are empaths. So this is something special.”

“I guess… Hey um… So I read some stuff about covens and stuff and demons kind of screwing with humans to make beast-blooded? Does this mean I’m beast-blooded? Like, I can cast magic and stuff, but I’m human?”

Allura thought about it for a moment. “There is a chance… There’s also a chance that you’re just a human that can cast magic. It does happen without being beast-blooded. Though being beast blooded does help your chances of being able to cast magic… How are you balancing your school life with your magic life?”

“Terribly.”

“... I’m sure you’ll find a balance soon.” That was laughable. He wanted to throw himself in front of traffic more than usual.

***

With Lance being gone for so long, Keith was bored. So bored. So very, very bored. There were only so many hours Keith could spend in his little makeshift den. He could have gone hunting but he wasn’t hungry. He walked around the inside of the whole house five times before he gave up and explored the grounds.

It didn’t take long for him to find something he was interested in. Granted it was stupid, but he didn’t care. It was something to do. He found a tree in a giant pot. There were several of these decorating the back garden. Keith tipped it over, pulled the tree out, and dug out most of the soil. When it was empty Keith crawled inside the improvised cave and hummed a little to himself. It wasn’t as nice as the little nest he had made, but it was still kind of nice. Also, he could roll the pot around if he felt like it.

So he ended up rolling around the backyard inside a giant pot for several hours. It was entertaining for him. He ended up stopping when he started to feel dizzy and it started to get dark outside. When that happened he climbed out of the pot, shook off any excess dirt and wandered back inside. Lance would be home soon and then they could start looking for Shiro.

He was only inside for a few minutes when the front door opened up and Lance walked inside. “You still in here Keith or you out killing assholes?”

“I’m here.” Keith quickly moved over to him. “We’re going to look for Shiro now, right?”

Lance jumped a little when he saw him. “For fuck’s sake Keith. Were you rolling around in dirt all day?”

“... First of all, fuck you.”

“Go take a bath or something.”

“I’m not going to jump in a river!” He snapped. “It’s cold out there!”

Lance looked at him like he was an idiot. “A bath you moron. Have you never had a bath? Have you ever used a tap before?”

“... Fuck you!”

Lance rolled his eyes and marched past him. “Where the fuck is a bathroom in this place?”

“Bathroom?”

“Yeah, had a giant container that’s big enough for you to sit in.”

“Oh, there’s one of those over there.” Keith showed Lance where one of the many bathrooms were. He watched as Lance went about turning on some things that made water rush out of the tube on the wall. Hot water too. He could see the steam. “... Water magic.”

“Indoor plumbing.” Corrected Lance. “Not magic. Now just strip and get in the bath to clean yourself.”

“... Oh, now you want me naked.”

Lance went red and spluttered. “B-because you’re meant to be naked when you have a bath! Just take your clothes off and get in the bath! You have dirt all over your face and hair! Use some soap and get clean you little gremlin.”

Keith glared at him. “I take offence to that.”

“Just get in the water before it gets cold again.” Muttered Lance. Keith huffed and started to take off his shirt. “WAIT UNTIL I’M OUT OF THE ROOM!”

“FUCK YOU! WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM ME?!”

“TO GET CLEAN!”

“I AM FUCKING TRYING TO!”

“WHY DO YOU HAVE TO GET NAKED IN FRONT OF ME?!”

“I’M NOT! YOU JUST HAPPEN TO BE AROUND ME WHEN I GET NAKED!”

“FUCKING PERVERT!”

“I’M A FUCKING DEMON YOU ABSOLUTE WALNUT!”

Lance screamed as he exited the room. Keith screamed back at him while he got undressed and sat in the bathtub. It was surprisingly warm and really helped to relax his muscles. He liked it but would never tell Lance that. “... You still there Lance?” He called.

“Yeah.” Called Lance from the other side of the door.

“... Can we look for Shiro when I’m clean?”

“...”

“Lance?”

“Yeah, sure…” 

He seemed reluctant to help him. Keith couldn’t help but feel kind of hurt. Lance said he would help him, but he wasn’t? He didn’t get it. Was he really mad that he didn’t instantly get into the bath when he came back inside the house? He didn’t know getting covered in dirt would make Lance so angry at him. What if he didn’t want to help him now? What if he couldn’t find Shiro now?

“... Are you mad at me?”

“...”

“... I-”

“No.” Said Lance. “I’m just… I’m just tired Keith. I’m really, really tired… All this magic stuff is new and I have no idea what to do to help you… And I have exams coming up. I have readings to do and I have some notes I need to go through… I know Shiro is important to you, but I have stuff that’s important to me too…”

“... So you won’t help me?”

“I am going to help you, but it’s going to take time.”

“Okay… Sorry… I just want to find Shiro so badly. I can’t stop until I find him. I’m sorry.”

“Okay… I’m going to go to the library with my school stuff. You can come and find me when you’re done and we’ll start looking for Shiro. That sound good to you?”

“Thank you.” He heard Lance walk away and he quickly sank down into the water. It was clear, but was quickly turning brown. Looks like he was dirtier than he thought he was. He heard the sound of the pull bell ring out through the house. He wondered if Pidge or Hunk had come by. That might cheer Lance up a little.

***

_Shiro stayed close to the ground in the long grass. He knew they were close. They were very close. He raised himself up just slightly so he could crawl along the ground. He was moving towards a rock where he knew his prey was trying to hide. He couldn’t help but smirk. Their prey had a lot to learn if they were going to survive._

_Closer. Closer. Closer..._

_Suddenly he spring out and went to snatch them up from behind the rock. “Ha! Huh?” They weren’t there. There was nothing there apart from a small wet patch on the rock. Did their prey pee on the rock to scent it and confuse him? That was actually impressive._

_Suddenly something relatively heavy jumped at his tail and bit him. Shiro smirked a little and let out a small roar of faked pain and he fell over and pretended to die. Moments later what was grabbing his tail let go and walked up to his face and started poking him._

_“Shiro? What are you doing?” Asked Keith._

_“Shush. I am dead.” He said. “You killed me.”_

_Keith rolled his eyes and poked his face some more. “All I did was bite your tail. Stop being dumb and get up.”_

_“I’m not dumb I am dead. You bit me and you killed me.”_

_He continued to play dead while Keith huffed and grabbed him by his paw. The smaller demon attempted to drag him along, but failed horribly. He eventually gave up and went back to touching his face. “Come on Shiro. Time to get up and go back to the den. Dar is gonna be back soon and he’s gonna take us hunting.”_

_“Too late. I have been hunted. You bit me and I am dead.”_

_Keith huffed and pulled on his ear. “Up! Up! Up!”_

_Shiro chuckled and pretended to get up, only to quickly swat him down with his paw and pin him in place. Keith squeaked and squirmed under him. Shiro’s paw was heavy and he knew it. Keith made several indignant noises and tried to pull himself out. But he was pinned._

_“I hate you so much right now.” Grumbled the young kit. “I will bite you! We need to get going now!”_

_Shiro laughed and got up. “Okay Keith. Let’s head back.” He helped Keith up to his feet and lightly nuzzled the top of his head. “You’re going really well. I was fooled by that misdirection you did there. Very clever.”_

_Keith grinned and climbed onto his back. “Really? You think that was clever?”_

_“Of course it was. You’re gonna be a good hunter yet.”_

_Keith huffed and started to run his talons through Shiro’s mane, pulling out a few bits of leaves and grass that got stuck in there. Shiro was always very happy when Keith groomed him. He had nimble little fingers that reached right down to his scalp. It made him happy. When they got back to the den he’d have to groom Keith too. Pack grooming as an important part pack bonding._

_“I did mean it though.”_

_“Huh?”_

_“When I said you were a good hunter.” Said Shiro. “You’re well on your way to being a really good sin-eater.”_

_Keith made a few small happy chirps. “Thanks. Dar said he’d take me to the human world so I could hunt my first human.”_

_“... Be very careful when you’re there kit.” Said Shiro. “Humans are some of the worst creatures you’ll ever come across. Make sure your dar stays close to you so he can help you if you have any trouble.”_

_Keith nodded. “Okay. I’ll do my best… I’ll bring you back a leg so we can both have human.”_

_“That sounds really nice. Thank you Keith.”_

_Keith made a few more happy sounds as he snuggled into Shiro’s mane. It would take a little while to get back to the den and he was pretty sure Keith would have fallen asleep by then, but he didn’t mind._

***

That happy memory of a simpler time played over in Shiro’s mind. He wanted to get back to those happier times if it were possible. All he had to do was do what Haggar wanted. But he hated it. He hated it so much, but he had to do it. If it was a choice between the life of his littermate and some random warlock, he’d take the warlock’s life every time. He sighed a little and yanked on the pull bell again. His new arm, some robotic monstrocity, hurt like hell. Haggar said it could easily morph like his actual arm did when he took on his Manticore form but he doubted it. He would rather have no arm than this painful metal.

The door opened and a young man with ocean blue eyes was looking at him. “Hello? Do you need something?”

“Y-yeah…” Said Shiro. “I um… I need help… Do you own this place? Like, did you buy this place from Marcello or did you inherit it?”

The young man slowly raised an eyebrow. “You want some warlock stuff? Sorry, but business hours are between nine and five. It’s five thirty now. Try again tomorrow maybe?”

“P-please.” Said Shiro quietly. “I need help… Marcello was the only one that could help me before… Please…” Not a complete lie. Marcello was always happy to help him no matter what. Even during the last time he saw him. The man just smiled at him and resigned himself to the fate his life had dealt him.

The young man frowned a little and kept giving him strange looks. He was so young. He reminded Shiro a little of Keith. He was probably around the same age as Keith too. He missed him so much. He just needed to do this and get this over with. “I don’t know man…”

“... My name is Takashi.” Which wasn’t a lie, his full name was Takashi Shirogane. He just went by Shiro. “I just need a place to sleep for the night. Marcello and I had an agreement. He’d let me stay when I came by.”

“Oh yeah? And what are you Takashi?”

“... Fae?”

“What kind of fae?”

“... Oni?”

“Oni?”

“Yes. Japanese fae type.” Shiro was hoping that this man was an idiot and didn’t know that oni were Japanese demons. Shiro kind of panicked and didn’t really think of any cover story ahead of time. “Please, it’s getting late and I’m desperate…” He could start to feel pain creeping up his neck. Whatever Haggar did to him when she gave him that fake arm it seemed to get more painful now that he was in the presence of this young warlock. Like it was just itching to rip a hole into his flesh.

The young man kept giving him strange looks before he sighed. “Okay. Come on in I guess. My name’s Lance by the way. Nice to meet you Takashi.”

Shiro smiled a little and shook his hand. He could see Lance was wearing the ring. “Nice to meet you too Lance. Sorry for the inconvenience.”

“No big deal. I already have a grumpy demon living with me at the moment so you being here is no big deal.”

“Oh?” Shiro hadn’t planned for that. “A demon?”

“Yeah. Super grumpy guy. He’s aloof and junk. Finally convinced him to take a bath. Have no idea how he got clean before indoor plumbing.”

Shiro just nodded as he watched Lance closely. He was young. So young. He didn’t want to do this. But he had no choice. Lance was wearing the ring. Haggar wanted the ring. He needed to do this. It was tearing him apart inside. He didn’t want to do this. He didn’t want to kill someone who was basically a child. The last time he had killed children he was in a blind rage and he hadn’t been in a blind rage since… Maybe he could also get Adam back while he was here?

“And this can be your room for the night.” Lance opened up a guest room and Shiro walked in. It was a nice place. Doing something nice like this for him was just guilt tripping him more. He was just here to kill Lance, take his ring and take the deed to the estate. “Is this okay? You need anything else?”

Shiro shook his head. “No. I’m good. Thank you.” He could do it now. Just reach over and snap Lance’s neck. He could just kill him now. It would be quick. It would be easy. He wouldn’t even know it was happening until it was over. All he had to do was reach over and do it. But he didn’t want to do it. He didn’t want to. He really didn’t want to. But what choice did he have now? He was here and it was so close to ending.

Lance stood in the doorway and smiled brightly. “Well that’s good.” Something caught his attention down the hall and he waved. “Hey, we have a guest here tonight. Come and say hi.”

Someone grumbled a little as they quickly padded over to the door; pale skin, damp glossy purplish black hair, yellow eyes with purple irises. It took Shiro all but a second to recognise them. “Keith?”

“Shiro?”

***

Keith couldn’t believe his eyes. It was Shiro. His brother. His littermate. He couldn’t help but let out overly excited trills and chirps as he threw himself at Shiro. He happily nuzzled the older man’s neck. He smelt so different now. A lot more antiseptic and sterile. He didn’t like that. That would need to be fixed soon. But first, he growled and bit Shiro’s shoulder as hard as he could without ripping a chunk out of him.

“YOU ASSHOLE!” He yelled. “WHERE THE FUCK WERE YOU?! YOU FUCKING LEFT ME! YOU SAID YOU WOULDN’T DO THAT! WE’RE A PACK! WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED TO YOU ARM?!” 

Shiron winced in pain, but smiled at his littermate anyway. “I’m so sorry. I got caught by a witch and she used a blood contract against me. I would have come home so much sooner if I was able to… I’m so sorry Keith… I’m so sorry…”

“...” Keith clung to him tightly and let a few distressed whimpers escape him. “Don’t do that again… Please… I can’t be alone like that again… Don’t leave me… Don’t be like dar…”

Shiro’s grip on him tightened. “I’m not. I wouldn’t… Wait, hang on. What are you doing here?”

“Lance summoned me.” Said Keith.

“It was an accident!” Whined Lance. “And I thought your name was Takashi?”

“Takashi Shirogane.” He said. “That’s my full name… And I’m not a fae…”

“Why would you lie about that?” Asked Lance.

Keith gave Shiro a suspicious look as he looked between his face and his arm. “... You said something about a witch and a blood contract… What did you do Shiro? What did you do?”

A look of shame came over Shiro. “I’m sorry… A witch found me and she… She was more powerful than I realised… She gave me a choice. Sign a blood contract with her or die. So I signed… She took my arm Keith. She took my fucking arm.”

“I can see that… But we can go home now.” Said Keith. “We can go home now.”

“... I can’t.” Said Shiro quietly. “Not yet… I still have something to do… I have to complete the contract…”

Shiro’s scent quickly started to change. It was a distressed scent. Something that he didn’t smell from the older male very often. It worried Keith a lot. “Shiro… What did you do? What do you have to do?”

“I…” Shiro shuddered and pushed Keith away. He was breathing heavily and clutching his robot arm. He looked like he was going to be sick. He was sweating and shaking like a leaf. Keith was terrified. He hadn’t seen Shiro like this before. What had happened to him? This wasn’t right. What was hurting him?

“... Shiro?”

Shiro groaned and pressed the palms of his hands into his eyes. He muttered something that Keith didn’t quite catch. But he could smell something horrible. It was a danger scent. Something that made his hair stand on end. This was bad. Very bad. “Run…” Growled Shiro a little louder.

“...” Keith grabbed Lance’s hand while keeping his eyes on Shiro. “Lance… We need to run.”

“W-what?”

“We have to run. Now.”

“Keith, what’s happening?” Asked Lance.

A primal roar ripped through Shiro’s throat as he fell to his knees and his body painfully contorted. His muscles were bulging and ripping through his skin. What skin was left was quickly healing over and developing a thick layer of fur. Keith’s blood ran cold.

“He’s in a rage.” Said Keith. He dug his talons into Lance’s arm and pulled him out the door, quickly slamming it behind them.

“A-and a rage is bad?!” Asked Lance as he ran alongside Keith.

“Last time I saw him in a rage he fucking killed a dragon! A fucking dragon!” Said Keith in a panic. “Nothing calms him down when he’s like this! Fucking nothing!” He jumped over the banister when they got to the stairs and Lance quickly slid down the railing after him.

“What about the skull?” Asked Lance. “What if we just throat that at him? Will that work? It’s important to him, right?”

“... It might… Shit I left it in my backpack!”

“And where is your backpack?”

“In that broom closet… on the third floor.”

“... We’re so dead aren’t we?”

“Pretty much.”


	11. Ballroom Blitz

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> More magic and high jinks ensue as the boys try not to fucking die. Also as soon as I knew the main setting for this I could not not name it after the Sweet song Ballroom Blitz. Has nothing to do with the chapter. I just like the name of the song XD Kudos and comment when you can. Enjoy :D

Keith and Lance hid in some dark room. Lance knew the room they were hiding in was huge but for some reason Keith had the two of them pinned down in a dark corner. He was lightly rubbing his face and wrists over any of Lance’s exposed skin in an almost frantic manner.

“What are you doing?” Asked Lance.

Keith hissed at him and quickly put his hand over his mouth. “Shut the fuck up your moron. I’m trying to mask your human smell. Shiro is fucking pissed. Shiro eats people like you eat those thin cut potatoes.”

“... Chips. The word you’re looking for is chips.”

Keith rolled his eyes and rubbed his wrists against Lance’s forehead. “Just shut up. Once you stop smelling so much like a human we can sneak up and get the skull. Once we do that, We can try and calm Shiro down if not… Humans can survive falling out of a third story window, right?”

“Depends how I land and I’ll not be walking away from that.”

“... Second story window?”

“Ground level only.”

Keith stared at him in utter disbelief. “You can’t be serious… Fuck…” There was a loud crash and a roar coming from the floor above them. Shiro was out and he was pissed. Keith immediately pressed himself up against Lance and stilled to the point Lance had no idea if he was even breathing or not. Lance certainly knew he wasn’t breathing. 

There was a fucking manticore raging around in the house. What was he supposed to do now? How was he supposed to survive this? He couldn’t use magic if Keith was going to rely on that to help them survive. He was going to die, wasn’t he? Shiro was going to kill him.

“We need to stay calm...” Whispered Keith. “No sudden sounds or movements. He’s just looking for something to attack. It will be okay.” There was a loud crash and a dark growl down the end of the hallway. Keith gulped and whispered quickly. “We can’t draw attention to ourselves. If he gets in here we can’t move at all. No matter what he does. Do not move.”

“Got it.” Said Lance quietly.

They heard the sound of heavy paws pounding the floor when it suddenly stopped right outside the room they were in. A large metal paw suddenly smashed through the wooden door and ripped it off its hinges.

Shiro’s ridiculously huge manticore form squeezed through the door. They growled as they turned their head this was and that as they sniffed the air in search of them. How could he not see them right now? Was his vision based on movement when he was in a rage? He had no idea, but he sure as hell was going to follow Keith’s advice and didn’t move.

It was really unnerving to see a man’s face on a lion’s body. Even worse was the grotesque looking tail covered in painful looking barbs. Shiro knocked something over with his arm. It fell over and made a loud crashing sound. Immediately Shiro flicked his tail and dozens of barbs shot out of his tail and deeply imbedded themselves into the wall and floor.

Shiro growled and smashed a few more things before he slunk out of the room and down the hall. Once he was gone Keith let out a small sigh of relief and slowly moved off of Lance. “I think… I think we can move now. As long as we are quiet. Follow me.”

The two of them very slowly walked out of the room and made their way back to the stairs. Shiro seemed to have smashed his way down to the bottom floor. Everytime the climbed a step they held their breath, just hoping it wouldn’t make a noise and alert Shiro to where they were. Luckily for them he was tearing up some far end of the house.

“So what’s the plan?” Asked Lance quietly. “Just get the skull and give it to him?” He really hoped that would be good enough.

Keith however, was going to throw a wrench into that plan. “... We need the skull, and then we should go to the ballroom.”

“... The ballroom?”

“Yeah. It has a fancy piano and a harp in it.”

“Since when did this place have a ballroom?”

“Since forever.” Something shattered off in the distance and both boys froze. When all was relatively quiet again he kept talking. “Anyway, the ballroom has a huge demon trap in it, made for demons like Shiro. When he’s in the circle you have to very clearly say obfirmo. Got it? Obfirmo.”

“Obfirmo… Why do I have to say it?”

“Because like it or not you are the warlock and I do not have the magical energy to lock something like Shiro away.”

Lance was once again quietly screaming in his head. He wasn’t magic or as magic as they all thought he was. Lance was just Lance. He couldn’t do the things Keith was expecting him to do. He was going to get them both killed. Mainly himself. He was pretty sure that Keith could protect himself if he needed to. He knew how to get away from Shiro when he needed to.

They made it to the third floor and very carefully walked to broom closet. Keith very slowly opened the door so that it didn’t creak loudly. He grabbed hold of the backpack and the two of them headed back towards the stairs. Lance quickly looked over the side of the banister, and quickly pulled Keith back. He just saw shadow of Shiro’s tail just coming into view.

Keith hesitated and looked over the edge of the banister too. They needed to head back down to the first floor or something to get Shiro into whatever trap that Keith was planning. Lance was pretty sure whatever he was planning was going to get him killed.

Keith grabbed Lance’s hand and quickly moved to a hallway he hadn’t been down before that had a metal hatch in the wall. He hesitated a little and gave the backpack to Lance before opening the hatch and he started to climb inside.

“What are you doing?” Hissed Lance.

“I’m going to distract Shiro.” Said Keith quietly. “This is a laundry chute. It’ll take me to the basement. I’ll distract Shiro and make him go down there. When he’s down there, you can make your way back downstairs and we’ll make our way to the ballroom.”

“But I don’t know where that is.”

“...” Keith put his hand on his shoulder and gave him a serious look. “Lance, I know you can do this. If we don’t get this sorted out soon Kolivan will know something is up and then the whole coven will come here and kill him… I can’t have that. I can’t have Shiro die on me. Something is very wrong with him. We have to help him. Please… I know we haven’t seen eye to eye at all but I… Please just trust me.”

Lance knew this was going to get him killed. “Yeah… Okay. Don’t get yourself killed.”

A rare smile made its way onto Keith’s face before he nodded and started to contort himself to fit properly into the chute and he slipped away into the darkness. Now he was all alone. With an out of control demon rampaging. He had no idea what he should do or where he should go. Logically he knew he needed to go to the ground floor and get to the ballroom, but it was like his legs wouldn’t work. They couldn’t work.

When he tried to move he just ended up falling to his knees and shaking. This was insane. He was never going to be able to do this. He’d already forgotten what Keith had told him to say. He couldn’t do this. He was going to fail and end up dead. Maybe Keith would end up dead too? Fuck, everyone was going to die because of him.

He screwed his eyes tight and whimpered. He didn’t know what to do. He didn’t know how he could help anyone. Lance took a few deep breaths to try and steady himself. He felt the ring tingle slightly and he cracked open his eyes just enough to see that things were floating in front of him. A few pictures from the wall and part of the carpet. It was like a very inefficient shield. He looked down at his finger to see the gem set in the ring was glowing bright blue.

With caution, Lance stood up and moved towards it and touch the material. But the floating material stayed in front of him at the exact same distance no matter how close he tried to get to it. Okay, maybe he did have a bit more magic in him than he thought.

***

Keith slowly wriggled out of the chute and landed feet first in a basket of Marcello’s old laundry. He could tell it was Marcello’s since it smelt like him, it was dusty, and it definitely wasn’t Lance’s style. It was perfect.

He quickly went through it and picked out some of the clothes that had the strongest scent; socks and underwear. Keith then found a small space to hide them. It was a small drawer, but rage mode Shiro was a fucking dumbass. He left the drawer open just slightly and quickly looked around the basement. He found a few empty bottles and started throwing them against the walls.

The sound quickly drew the attention of Shiro and he heard the thunderous steps of the manticore running towards the basement. Keith quickly pressed himself against the wall and held his breath when Shiro burst into the basement. He roared and growled as he thundered down the steps, breaking a few as he went.

Keith watched as Shiro walked past him. He was too focused on searching the room to notice him standing there. The manticore was determined to find what made that noise. His head violently twitched as he caught Marcello’s scent and he brutally attacked the drawer where Keith stuffed the clothes.

While Shiro destroyed as much of it as possible Keith very slowly and quietly left the basement. He very carefully shut the door on Shiro and went to look for Lance. He was sitting at the top of the stairs. Not like he could really get down since Shiro went and destroyed the stairs leading up to the next floor and Lance looked so confused, like he didn’t know how to get down.

“Hey.” He said quietly as he waved up at Lance. “Need some help?”

“Yeah, that would be good… You catch Shiro?”

“He should be entertained for the next ten minutes or so. We have to hurry.” He moved over to Lance and held up his arms. “Jump.”

Lance hesitated a little and very slowly moved himself off the edge before he fell and landed in Keith’s arms. Lance was surprisingly heavier than Keith thought, but he managed to catch him. Lance was clearly still very shaken up and Keith didn’t really know what to do.

“Are you okay?”

“Fuck no.” He muttered. “I just… I’ve never been in this situation before, you know?”

“To be fair running for my life from something trying to murder me is kind of normal for me.” Said Keith camly. “Sin-eaters aren’t really top of the food chain. Mid tier demons at best. But we should go now.”

Lance nodded in agreement and the two of them moved quickly and quietly to the ballroom. It was a really large room. It had a huge crystal chandelier, a stage with a piano and harp placed on it, and the floor was made of several different types of stone. The pattern did make a demon trap. 

“... You know what to do, right?” Asked Keith. “When Shiro gets in the center you shout Obfirmo. Got it?”

Lance nodded slowly. “Right. Got it… I can do it… Here.” He gave Keith the backpack. “You might need this, and you might want to be standing out of the circle.”

“Planning to.” Keith took the skull out and took a deep breath. He had no idea if this would actually work, but he needed it to. There was something wrong, really wrong with Shiro and he had to help him. He looked down the hallway and shrieked at the top of his lungs. 

Seconds later Keith felt a paw slamming into his chest, making him fly across the room. Shiro was here and Shiro was pissed. He roared again and as he thundered towards Keith and batted him into the wall like a play thing before the younger demon even had a chance to stand up.

Keith cried out in pain. Shiro had definitely broken several bones just from one swat of his paw, and that wasn't even including the damage done on impact. He wanted to curl up and cry.

“KEITH!” Called out Lance.

Kith’s head quickly snapped up. Lance should have just screamed the word and locked Shiro away. But he didn’t he made himself known and caught Shiro’s attention. The Manticore pounced on him.

***

Lance screamed in surprise as Shiro pinned him down with his paw. The pressure was almost bone crushing. Tears welled up in Lance’s eyes as he stared into the eyes of a savage beast. Shiro’s fangs were on full display as thick globs of saliva fell from his maw. Lance reached out and tried to get a hold of the skull, which Keith had dropped in the confusion, but he couldn’t reach it.

“S-skull” He whimpered quietly. “Skull, skull, skull, skull, Adam!”

The skull flew through the air and landed in his hands seconds before Shrio moved to bite his face off. Lance screwed his eyes shut and held the skull up to Shiro’s face. Sadness and despair quickly filled him when he held the object, but he needed to do this.

“Adam!” Said Lance as clearly as he voice would allow him. “His name was Adam! Wasn’t it?” He had no idea if Shiro could even hear him or understand him at the moment. “Something horrible happened to him! Something you’ll never be able to forgive yourself for because you blame yourself for his death! You think everything that happened was your fault! I don’t know what your relationship was with him, but Adam wouldn’t want you to do this! I know he won’t! I can feel it!” 

In all honesty Lance was just bullshitting. He had no idea what Adam actually thought. He was just taking a stab in the dark and hoping it wouldn’t end up with him all over the ballroom. Thankfully for him Shiro did seem to pause for a moment in his attack. He removed his paw from Lance’s chest and took a step back.

Lance quickly sat up and crawled away from Shiro. That was when he realised he was still holding Adam, and Shiro didn’t seem to like that one bit. He roared and readied himself for another attack. Lance shrieked and at that moment the harp flew through the air and smashed Shiro in the face. It was quickly followed by the grand piano that knocked the manticore out completely.

“Obfirmo!” Said Lance loudly. Before he could stop himself he yelled out another word. “Alligatum!” When he said the second word Shiro’s joints seem to lock in place as he slowly lost his Manticore form and reverted back to his human self.

Keith groaned a little as he limped over, cradling a broken wrist. “Did you have to throw a piano at him?”

“Did you have to get thrown into a wall?”

“Fair point.”

“... Is your wrist okay dude? That looks really bad…”

Keith shrugged. “Give me a few minutes. My muscles are strong enough to pull and reset my bones when I fuck them up… But you know, since you knocked him out and bound him you can unlock him and leave him bound. Reserare.”

“Okay… Reserare?”

When he said that Keith was instantly by Shiro’s side. He made a small sad sound as he gently touched his face and ran his fingers through Shiro’s hair. “It’s okay Shiro.” He said. “Everything is okay. I’m here now.” His fingers touched Shiro’s robot arm and he made a disgusted face. He looked at how the metal was grafted into his body. Lance frowned a little as he saw how the metal seemed to be grafted into Shiro’s shoulder and spine. Suddenly Keith dug his talons in and tried to pull it out of his spine.

Lance gasped and slapped his hand away. “What the fuck are you doing?”

“Getting it off him.” Snapped Keith. “What else would I be doing?”

“It’s attached to his spin you idiot. You could kill him if you just rip it out… Let me call Pidge. She knows all about tech stuff, and Shiro’s arm, is totally tech stuff.”

“... Fine. Just do it quickly.”

***

Keith watched Lance walk to the other side of the ballroom and call his friend Pidge on that weird plastic box. He nodded in approval and looked back down at Shiro. Since when did he have white in his hair, or a scar across his nose? This was distressing, but he was happy that Shiro was here with him. He didn’t care what anyone was going to say. He was just happy that Shiro was with him and he was alive.

Lance walked back over to him. “Okay, Pidge is on her way with Hunk. He picked her up after her first day interning. They’ll be here in twenty… Is everything good?”

“Yeah… Sorry Shiro kind of destroyed your house…”

He shrugged. “I am honestly surprised this didn’t happen sooner… Now I gotta figure out how to fix this all.” Lance gestured to the house in general. When he did that everything around them started to slowly start to creak and groan. Metal and wood cracked and popped as everything started to shift and morph in the house. Even the piano and harp repaired themselves and placed themselves back on the stage in the ballroom. Both of them were mildly surprised by this.

“Huh, guess the place get wrecked more than we thought.” Mused Keith. “Marcello must have put some charm on the house to self repair.”

“Well that’s pretty handy.”

“Yeah.” Keith moved so Shiro’s head was resting in his lap. He hummed softly and continued to stroke his hair. “... Can you bring Adam over?”

“Yeah, sure.” Lance picked up the skull and ugly fat tears started rolling down his face. “H-here.”

Keith took it and put it by Shiro. “Thanks… Is it really that bad? Like when you touch it does it hurt you that badly?”

Lance pouted. “Look, it just makes me cry. I don’t know why. I just get extremely sad… Something bad happened to Adam when he died and Shiro… Shiro feels responsible for it. I don’t know the details but that’s the feeling I’m getting.”

“... Right.” Keith sat quietly and continued to stroke Shiro’s hair. After a while he noticed Lance had left the room. Not that he cared too much. He was probably waiting out the front for Pidge. He came back after what felt like a few seconds with Hunk and Pidge. Lance was also carrying Keith’s blanket.

The trio walked over and Pidge knelt down next to Shiro and started looking at the new attachment. “Wow, you weren’t kidding when you said this thing was super advanced. So this is Shiro, right?”

Keith nodded. “Yeah. This is Shiro. Get this stupid arm off him.”

“This might take a while. So just give me some time.” She said as she took off her backpack and took out some tools. Keith didn’t know what those tools were or why Pidge needed so many of them. He just watched her carefully as she started poking small needle like tool. “This is really well designed.” She said. “I haven’t seen anything like this before, like in theory I have but practically… It looks like it’s been grafted into his spinal column. I might be able to get the arm part off him, but the shoulder attachment might be impossible for me.” 

She jabbed a tool into a small hole and a series of small milky indigo vials popped up along his spine. Pidge jumped a little in surprise and took one out to have a look at it. 

“What’s that?” Asked Hunk.

“c9h13no3.” She said.

“What?” Asked Lance. “In English Pidge.”

“Epinephrine, or like adrenaline.” She said. 

“... Would that make Shiro go into a rage?” Asked Keith. 

Pidge shrugged. “Possibly. In humans it kind of activates our fight-or-flight response. Get the blood pumping and stuff.”

Keith nodded and looked back down at Shiro. “So… this adrenaline might have been the thing that made Shiro go into a rage?”

“I can only assume.” Said Pidge. “Let me just pop the rest of these out.” She continued to pop out the small vials. They were all lined up along his spine. Keith had no idea why there were so many of these things hidden inside it. All in all there were fifteen vials. Two were completely empty and one was half empty. “Interesting… This looks like some cybernetic stuff. Cutting edge too.”

“Will he be okay?” Asked Hunk. “He seems kind of… Dead? You know like rigor mortis has set in.”

Keith shrugged. “That’s because Lance bound him. He just needs to say reserare again and his joints will unlock.”

Lance sighed. “Right, sorry. Didn’t know… Resarare.”

Shiro’s body immediately relaxed and Keith started to make small soothing sounds as he ran his talon through Shiro’s hair. “It’s okay Shiro. Everything is fine now. “

A few seconds later Pidge stopped working and huffed. “Okay, this is weird…”

“How?” Asked Hunk.

“There should be some kind of screw or hatch right here I can hit to detach the arm and it is there, but I can’t do shit.” She grumbled. “Sorry, Keith, but I think it’s stuck. But at least I got the adrenaline out of him?”

Keith was annoyed, but was glad that Pidge was able to help out somewhat. “Thanks. It’s more than I could do… Are you sure I can’t just rip it out?”

Pidge shook her head. “Oh fuck no. You have no idea how integrated this arm is with Shiro’s body. There could be wires in his brain for all you know. Just ripping it out could kill him.”

“... Okay.” Keith continued to cradle his brother’s head in his lap. “I don’t want to move him too much. We can’t take him up to the bedrooms, he’s kind of heavy.”

“There’s that room with the couch and the fireplace.” Said Hunk. “We could take him there?”

Keith reluctantly agreed. He and Hunk lifted Shiro up and took him to the first room with a couch and put him on it. When he was laying comfortably, Lance draped the blanket over him and Keith sat by him while holding Adam’s skull.

“You guys need anything else?” Asked Lance. “Another blanket? Some pants for Shiro?”

Keith shrugged. “We’re fine for now… Could you guys leave? I don’t think Shiro would feel too happy about waking up to so many people.”

Lance nodded. “Yeah. Sure. We’ll be in the dining room. You guys have fun and stuff.” The trio left the room and Keith let out a slight sigh. Shiro was safe. Shiro was fine now. They could work things out and go back home. Now they were back together. Everything was going to be okay.

***

Lance wasn’t really sure what to think. Shiro turning up just had just lead to more questions than answers. He was under some kind of blood contract, which he had no idea about. There was also the fact he had some super advanced robot arm. Since when did witches use technology? This was bullshit.

“Do you know where those vials came from Pidge?” He asked.

Pidge shrugged as she squinted at one of the empty vials. “Not sure… I’m not even sure this is pure adrenaline that got pumped into Shiro… I’d need to do an actual chemical analysis to see what it actually is, but I am pretty sure adrenaline isn’t meant to be indigo. Must be an additive or something…”

“Why would they put it in Shiro’s arm though?” Asked Hunk. “Well, technically his spine, but still…”

Lance shrugged. “Probably wanted him to go all manticore and murder everything. He was trying to murder me and Keith. Fuck, if it wasn’t for Keith I would have been so fucking dead.”

“So some kind of remote control demon?” Asked Pidge. She frowned a little and rubbed her chin. “Maybe magic is all concentration based or something? Technology probably helps for long distance things and therefore a merger of magic and machine… They come together and make the thing…”

Hunk nodded in agreement. “That actually makes sense. They use some kind of radio signal to track it and so they can flip the switch when they need him to act, but they have some magic seals and stuff on it to stop him or someone else from taking the arm? Does that sound about right?”

As much as Lance didn’t want to admit it, those two sounded like they could be right. This was really fucked up. Why did Shiro come here in the first place? Did he come here to kill him? That thought sent a chill down his spine, but he shouldn’t jump to conclusions. Maybe he just needed to get something Marcello had for the witch that he had a blood contract with? Maybe? He really hoped that was the case.

***

Soon Shiro started to wake up and Keith sat back. Which turned out to be a good idea since Shiro woke up with a roar and waved his hands around in a clawing motion. After a few seconds to calm himself, Keith spoke up.

“Shiro? Are you okay?”

Shiro’s eyes snapped over to him. They were wide and fearful. “Keith... Are you okay?”

Keith smiled and sat next to him on the couch. “I’m good. You had us worried for a second there.”

“Oh shit, the warlock!” Shiro quickly looked around the room. “Where is he? Did I kill him? Oh fuck I killed him didn’t I?”

Keith put his hand on Shiro’s shoulder. “Lance is fine… He kind of beat you pretty badly though. He nailed you in the head with a harp and a piano.”

“... That explains the headache.”

“Yeah… Lance’s friends, Pidge and Hunk, they came over to help. I tried to get that metal thing off your body but it…” Keith made a distressed sound. “Pidge said it’s part of you or something? That you have wires in your brain? I want to take that thing off you…”

“Oh kit…” Shiro pulled him into a hug. “I appreciate the effort. But I already tried. Every time I try to rip it off I end up passing out. I think the witch put a hex on it.”

Keith nodded a little as he hugged back. “Speaking of the witch… You said you needed to complete a blood contract with them or something? What’s all that about?”

Shiro sighed sadly. “It’s a really shit story… There’s this witch called Haggar. She happened to find me and trap me. She said since I was a manticore I couldn’t stay on earth. It was either she instantly kill me, or I do one task for her… She wants Marcello’s ring and the deed to the McClain estate… And I can’t get the ring unless the person wearing it is dead so… Then again Marcello did get it off himself…” 

“Wait, he did?” Questioned Keith. “That ring is meant to be like, super powerful and junk. How did he get it off?”

Shiro shrugged. “I’m not sure. Marcello was always a weird person. You never know when he’s telling the truth or making stuff up.”

“... Fair point. Wait, how do you know he got rid of his ring?”

Shiro went quiet and he got a distant look in his eyes. It was unnerving and Keith didn’t like it one bit. This wasn’t like Shiro. There was something wrong and it was starting to scare Keith. Even more than when Shiro had raged and tried to kill him and Lance.

“Shiro… How do you know?”

“Because I’m murdered Marcello.”


	12. Magically legally binding

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And now for the truth behind Marcello's death and talk about how to get Shiro out of his blood contract with Haggar. Kudos and comment when you can. Enjoy :D

Shiro had never intended on getting caught, but then again no one ever does. Besides, he was a powerful monster. He could easily pass through any barrier made by a fake witch or any one playing pretend with magic spells. He didn’t expect a witch to capture and bind him while he was just sitting quietly by himself, grieving. Like he always had.

Haggar captured him and made him sign a contract. He knew she wanted him to do something because of the manticore’s reputation. So there he was, standing at Marcello’s door, ready to kill him. Honestly though, he really didn’t want to. Marcellow was a friend and a powerful warlock. If he felt that Shiro was trying to harm him he could easily kill him. 

He knocked and Marcello answered. He seemed a little surprised to see Shiro, but he smiled brightly at him anyway. “Hey there Shiro. What can I do for you? Are you ready to go back home now and need to pick up Adam? Or perhaps you’d like to spend an hour in bed with me?”

Shiro rolled his eyes. Marcello was always like this with everyone. He was surprised Keith didn’t try to eat his face whenever he saw him. The man was a walking personification of lust by the way he talked. Every greeting always ended in a proposition to fuck.

“I’m not interested in sex.” Said Shiro calmly.

“Aw, really?” Asked Marcello. “I was pretty sure I was just daydreaming about getting fucked by a sexy manticore and then you showed up. Am I losing my powers or something?”

“I doubt it… I think you’re just lonely. You should settle down with someone.”

Marcello just laughed. “Aw, you think so? You actually think I’ll find the future Mrs McClain or Mr McClain that easily? I’m a player Shiro. No one creature no matter their sexual orientation is enough to fully satisfy me… Maybe if they were a polymorph… But I digress. You sure you don’t want to sleep with me? I will make it worth your while.” He purred.

Shiro shook his head. “Sorry, but I’m going to have to take a hard pass on that. Can we go inside? I’d like to talk to you about a private matter…”

The tone of his voice made the other man frown slightly. Suddenly his bubbly demeanor changed as he let out a long sigh. “I see… Well, let’s come in and talk about it for a bit, shall we?”

Shiro nodded and the two of them went inside. As they walked Shiro couldn’t help but feel terrible about this, but he was under contract to do it. He just needed to do what Haggar wanted and then he could go. This was fine. Besides, Marcello was human. If he didn’t do this something else like choking to death would get him. He was just speeding up the process.

They sat in Marcello’s office and the older man let out a long, sad sigh. “Well… I guess there are worse ways to go.” He said. “At least it’s at the hands of a friend and not something stupid like falling down the stairs.”

“Excuse me?” What was Marcello talking about? Did he already know?

“My emanate death of course.” Said Marcello in a very matter of fact tone. “You see, this is the trouble when you’ve become as powerful as I and decided just for kicks you’d try to perfect time travel and any magic where you can see into the future… I happened to see my death happening today. So I made some preparations.”

Shiro gulped but tried to stay calm. He had to stay calm. He didn’t know what Marcello was planning. Hell, he could have just been messing with him the whole time just to screw with him. That was a very Marcello thing to do. Then again… 

“Which is why-” said Marcello. “-I was hoping for one last good fuck before I die, or at the very least to die while having sex. Kind of messed up, but hey, that’s the way I choose to go you know? There are all other ways one could go, but I want it that way… Yeah, I’m a bit of a freak like that.”

He leaned back in his chair and ran his fingers through his hair. It was then that Shiro noticed he was missing a finger. The finger that he usually wore his ring had been cut away down to the knuckle. “... What happened to your finger?”

Marcello gave him a slightly confused look before he looked at his hand. “Oh? This thing? You see, when I saw that my death was coming up and the two main paths that it could take, one being where I was cautious and one where I wasn’t, I decided to go with the timeline where everything should turn out alright… More or less. There is still the matter of free will and diverging timelines, but we all make do with what we got. You know?” He got up from his desk and sat on it so he was facing Shiro.

The confidence he held was something that even Shiro couldn’t understand. It was unnatural. He’d seen thousands of demons that had the fake bravado that Marcello displayed, but they could never live up to it. Marcello, while human, was practically untouchable.

“Shiro, my friend...” He said with a smile on his face. “The ring and the deed are not here. I used a very old, very ancient blade that was filled with more magic than my ring to cut off my finger. The ring was not impressed and put up a good fight, but I had it amputated. The deed to my estate is in the hands of the Marmora coven. I already discussed with them what is to be done when I die… So Haggar and the rest of her shitty coven of back stabbing, lowlife, shit eating degenerates can choke on my dick for all I care. I know she sent you here to kill me.”

Shiro’s whole body tensed. This wasn’t happening. This just wasn’t this was meant to be quick. Why did Marcello have to know this? He really was some all powerful warlock but this was something else. He hated it. Was Marcello going to kill him now? He had no idea.

Marcello tilted Shiro’s head up so they were looking at each other. The other man had no anger on his face at all. If anything there was just a surreal calm that scared Shiro even more than anger.

“I’m not mad at you.” Said Marcello calmly. “I already saw this happening… Though granted I decided to leave myself one last surprise. I didn’t see how you killed me. I wanted to leave that as a surprise.”

“... But I need the ring and the deed!” Said Shiro in a mild panic. “If Haggar doesn’t get it then she will-”

“Shush.” Said Marcello calmly. “I know. I’m sorry. I took the path that would cause the least amount of damage to everyone, but it’s the path that will cost you an arm… and possibly a leg. But in the long run this is the one where the most people live… Kind of depends on the next warlock though.” He sighed and shook his head. “I’ve given Kolivan very strict instructions, but I am not sure if he will do well with them… He’s not used to being around young people. He’s so… He’s such an old man. Not saying I wouldn’t fall to my knees after a shot or two but yeah… Anyway, I do wonder if my nephew will take up the mantle as the next warlock…”

“Huh?”

Marcello shook his head and brushed him off. “Oh, don’t mind me. I’m just thinking out loud. Wondering if my nephew will become the next warlock or if everything will stay in limbo. There is a chance that will happen, but I’m not too worried about that.” A confident smirk made its way across his face. “I, Marcello Homero McClain, am fully confident my nephew will do what is needed to be done to stop Haggar and her coven from touching my home.”

“How are you so confident?”

“Because I’m one of the most powerful warlocks in the world and know things that I shouldn’t know!” Proclaimed Marcello proudly.

“... Wow, only one of the most powerful?”

Marcello shrugged. “Hey, if I was powerful enough I wouldn’t have to worry about getting getting killed.”

“Fair… What would happen if Haggar did get your ring and the deed to this place?”

Marcello thought for a moment before he leaned forward and whispered into Shiro’s ear one word. The implications chilled him to the bone. He then suddenly pulled back and grinned playfully at him. “Now don’t go and tell anyone that little bit of info Shiro. That’s a potential spoiler, and the less people know about it the better. Okay? Promise to take that juicy bit of info to the grave?”

“... Okay.” Said Shiro quietly. Marcello was a scary man when he wanted to be, even when he was happy.

The other man grinned and happily clapped his hands and got off his desk. “Well let’s get going my friend.” He held his hand out to him. “Come. If I’m going to die, I’m going to die in my bed.”

“Okay.”

Shiro took Marcello’s hand and the man happily lead him to his bedroom. When they got there Marcello kicked off his shoes and took off his coat. Shiro just watched him from the doorway, the man seemed much too happy about this.

“How can you be so calm about this?” Asked Shiro.

Marcello shrugged and sat on his bed. “I’ve lead a long human life. I’ve done what I wanted to do… Well, I kind of regret not getting in contact with my little sister, but that’s life isn’t it? If reincarnation is real or if I’m able to live this life again I might do things a little differently. But I’m not too stressed out about it. I’ve had time to come to terms with it.”

“... You’re a weird one Marcello.”

“So I have been told.” He flopped down onto the bed with his arms spread out. “Okay. Lay it on me. I’m ready to kick the bucket. Bite the big one. Meet my maker. I’m ready to push up daisies. Ashes to ashes and all that crap.” He impatiently tapped the mattress. “Let’s get this show on the road.”

“...” Shiro cautiously approached him. “So… How do you want to do this?”

“I want to die from a heart attack after getting my brains fucked out by a hot Manticore. But said Manticore is being a little bitch and won’t stick his dick in my butt.”

“I could always just leave you know.”

Marcello rolled his eyes. “Shiro, if you don’t do it something else will. Just come here and release me from this flesh prison.”

Shiro sighed and walked over to him. He looked over Marcello’s body. He seemed so calm and at peace with everything. “Do you have any preference? Do you want to bleed to death? Poison? Beheading? Broken neck?”

Marcello shrugged. “Eh, surprise me. I’m planning to have my corpse put in a coffin to rot away so my bones can get used in spells and charms in the future.”

“... Fair point I guess.” Strangle. He was going to strangle Marcello. Human necks were like twigs anyway. He could kill him with one hand. “Are you sure you want this?”

Marcello laughed. “Shiro, you are the worst assassin ever…” He sighed and smiled up at Shiro. “It’s okay. I am ready. It’s time Shiro. Goodbye.”

“... Goodbye Marcello.” Shiro reached out and held Marcello’s neck in his hand for a few seconds before he crushed it in his grip. Marcello struggled for a few seconds before his body went limp and the light left his eyes. Shiro felt like he had done something horribly, terribly wrong. The atmosphere in the home instantly became unwelcoming and hostile. Shiro quickly left.

***

For the past fifteen minutes Shiro had retold the group the story of how Marcello died. How he murdered him. Lance was having mixed feelings. He didn’t know if he should be angry or scared of Shiro. He said he didn’t want to kill him, but he ended up doing it anyway, and his uncle had talked him into doing it. Was it even murder or assisted suicide?

“And when I went back to Haggar, because I had to, She got angry at me and took my wings.” Said Shiro. “Then when I tried to escape they started to take my fingers… and then my arm… I’m sorry I killed your uncle. He was kind of persistent about it.”

“... You know, I never knew the man but I can’t help but feel like that was totally Marcello.” Said Lance. “Um… I guess I forgive you?”

“What’s a blood contract?” Asked Hunk.

“When a demon is on earth there’s an unspoken rule that a human needs to be in guardianship of them.” Explained Shiro. “When I’ve been on earth it’s been unsupervised and witches do not like that at all… When a witch finds a demon that hasn’t been summoned but is here anyway they can force a blood contract onto them. Basically forcing a demon to serve them until the terms of the contract are filled, or the witch cuts all ties with them… So I’m actually kind of happy Keith is here now. Haggar threatened to summon Keith if I didn’t get what I came for this time.”

“I could take her.” Muttered Keith.

Shiro gave him a stern look. “No Keith. You couldn’t.”

“Is there a way to break your contract?” Asked Pidge. “Like, clearly you don’t want to go and kill Lance, which is a surprise considering the first demon tried to straight up murder him. There has to be some way, right?”

Shrio shrugged. “Any of you know any lawyers that are well versed in magic and the laws that govern human and demon interaction?”

Keith and Lance shared a look. Obviously they had an idea who they could get to help, but neither of them actually wanted to do it. Especially since they kind of wanted Shiro dead right away. Lance didn’t really know what he should do. He’s not well versed in anything magic like everyone else seemed to be.

“What if… What if we just call Krolia?” Lance suggested.

Immediately Keith tensed up. “I will rip out your throat if you even think about letting that bitch in here.”

“Isn’t Krolia your sar?” Asked Shiro. “Why wouldn’t you want her around?”

Keith huffed and crossed his arms. “She wants you dead because you’re a manticore.”

“Oh… Yeah, that’s fair.” Said Shiro like it was no big deal. “Manticore are pretty dangerous to humans. We can eat an entire human in about three minutes when we’re in a rush.”

“I still won’t let her near you.” Said Keith. “You don’t know what she will do to you and I… I don’t want to lose you again…”

“... Okay. No sar.” Shiro gently patted Keith’s head and smiled kindly at him. “Okay, so if we can’t get actual magic lawyers to help us. Anyone got any other ideas?”

Pidge shrugged. “Lance is pretty tight with some fae. Coran and Allura, right?”

“Oh yeah.’ Said Hunk. “They would probably know about this.”

Lance shrugged. “They are elves, and I’m not too sure if they will be interested in this… But I’ll give them a call. Coran gave me their shop card.” Lance searched his wallet and pulled out the card Coran had given him. “Be back in a second.” He walked out into the hallway and gave them a call. Moments later Coran picked up.

_“Altean Earthly Remedies, Coran speaking.”_

“Hey Coran it’s me, Lance.”

_“Ah, Lance my boy! It is a little late, but how may we help you?”_

“I need legal help.”

_“... Might is suggest a lawyer?”_

“Magic legal help.”

_“Ah, okay. What kind of help do you need?”_

“Long story short; we found Keith’s littermate but he’s been forced into a blood contract. We’re trying to figure out if there is a way out of it.”

_“Say no more. Allura and I will pop over and see if we can help you out. See you soon.”_

“Okay. See you soon. Thanks.” Lance hung up and walked back into the room. “Good news, they are coming. Should be here soon.”

“Should we make some of the tea they sent you?” Asked Hunk. “I’ll go and make some tea.” Hunk quickly went back to the kitchen and Lance just let him. It was clear that Hunk was kind of stressed and needed to do something with his hands.

***

Eventually Coran and Allura did show up. They greeted everyone and got down to business. Coran talked to Shiro at length about how Haggar found him and if he actually signed any documents. Shiro was adamant that he did sign something, but it was under threat of death. Sadly getting coerced into signing legal documents didn’t void them in the magic community.

That was frustrating, but the two elves kept talking and trying to find some loophole to help him. However they just didn’t couldn’t find anything. Keith was quickly getting agitated that they weren’t able to do anything. He looked like he was about to snap at them, but before he could yell at them Shiro would push a cup of tea into his hands and told him to drink. It was a good thing that Hunk had brewed calming tea.

Things weren’t looking in their favour at all and Lance knew they needed professional help. He excused himself to go to the bathroom while the rest were talking. He slipped into the bathroom and took the wallet. He took the card that Krolia gave him and took it out of his wallet. He hesitated for a moment but quickly called her number.

_“Krolia Kogane speaking.”_

“Hey Krolia, it’s me. Lance.”

_“Good to hear from you. How goes the hunt for Keith’s littermate?”_

“... It’s going. Anyway, quicky magical legal hypothetical for you.”

_“Oh?”_

“Yeah. So say some random demon just popped up on earth and was suddenly forced into a blood contract. Would there be a way out of this? All hypothetically of course.”

_“Hmmm… So this is all hypothetical and not at all your very poor attempt to cover up the fact that you might have found Keith’s littermate and he’s in some trouble?”_

“Of course not.”

_“Well, since it’s all hypothetical… I’d say you need to find out what crack he crawled out from. I am reminded of the 1844, Crabtree vs Applegate case. Crabtree found and got a demon to sign a blood contract with them when the demon was apparently waiting for Applegate to come by and make a contract with them. Long and short of it all there was a witches court and Applegate won because the demon came through a crack that was technically on the Applegate property.”_

“So… What you’re saying is that if Shiro came through a crack that was on the property of a witch that wasn’t part of Haggar’s coven the blood contract would be void?”

_“That is correct… As long as the witch and or warlock is alive when he came through a crack then the one living closest has the right to end the blood contract. As long as they offer a new blood contract then the previous blood contract will end immediately. Anyone with basic magic knowledge can make a blood contract, but I hope you would get someone with a little more experience to write one up for you.”_

“Yeah. Okay...” This was better than nothing. “Thanks. Hypothetically of course… Could you give me an example of how this could work?”

_“Of course… Say for example Shiro were to have come up through a crack on your property while Marcello was still alive and Marcello died before he and Shiro could make a blood contract, you, as the new warlock, would have inherited everything from Marcello. That includes the right to make a blood contract with Shiro. Unless you tell him you will not make a contract with him you have every right to void the previous contract no questions asked. All that is needed is the written contract and for you both to agree to it. Haggar would have no grounds to stand on in a court or law or magic.”_

“Huh… okay. Thank’s Krolia.”

_“Don’t mention it. And Lance, hypothetically, if you did see Shiro you would keep him safe right? For Keith’s sake?”_

What an odd question. “Hypothetically? Of course.”

_“Thank you… Well I gotta get back to my dinner. Microwaved green curry isn’t going to eat itself.”_

“Okay. You do that. Thanks again for your help Krolia. With all the hypotheticals.”

_“Any time Lance.”_

He hung up and went back down to where everyone was talking. Allura and Coran were still talking about how Shiro could get out of this contract, but they weren’t coming up with anything useful. Pidge and Hunk were just confused. Shiro pretty much looked resigned to the fact he was stuck in this contract. Keith just looked pissed off.

Lance cleared his throat. “Um… I think I have an idea?”

This quickly caught Coran’s attention. “Well speak up lad. We’ve exhausted every possible avenue from our perspective. Anything that you could suggest would help out a lot.”

Lance suddenly became nervous when all eyes were on him. “1844, Crabtree vs Applegate.” He said. “Like um… Shiro, what crack did you use to get here?”

“Does it matter?” He asked.

“Way more than you might think.”

Shiro hesitated for a moment. “There’s an old storage shed out the back of this place… It’s build inside a magic circle around a boulder with a crack in it. It’s so small and the fact that most demons couldn’t even escape and explore the human world after makes it extremely unappealing for most, but I can use it and have been using it for a while.”

So it was on the property. His property. He could technically do this. Lance quickly thought over the pros and cons about doing this. Granted he had a few more pros than cons going on. But his main con had to be one lingering question; would he be considered a warlock if he actually did this? If he did this there was probably no going back. Everything up until now had just been magic he’d performed without any knowing mental or physical input on his part. This would definitely cross the line and remove him from the realm of normal human.

Fuck it.

“Allura, Coran, can either of your write up a blood contract for me?”

Everyone gave Lance a confused look. “Well yes, but what do you need it for?” Asked Allura.

Lance grinned at her. “Since Shiro came through a crack on my property when Marcello was alive but was never offered a contract with him, I, as the one that inherited all his stuff, have also inherited the right to give Shiro a blood contract. As long as he approves of it too, we can get it all signed away and break the contract with Haggar by essentially transferring it to me.”

Needless to say everyone was stunned by what Lance was proposing. Even Lance was kind of surprised by how succinctly he was able to put everything together into a coherent sentence. He was pretty sure he was just spouting bullshit again, but his bullshit was usually a lot more disconnected.

“... I’ll do it.” Said Shiro. “If you’re really okay with that Lance… I don’t want you to feel like you’ve been forced to do so…”

Lance shrugged. “Haggar and the rest of her coven ripped you apart for failing before. There’s no way in good conscience I can let you go back… Plus I am pretty sure Keith would kill me if I did.”

“Damn right I would!” Snarled Keith.

“How did you figure that out anyway?” Asked Pidge.

Lance shrugged. “Talked to the ring and almost got knocked out by a book again.” He hoped that his explanation would be enough for them. Considering how fucked up everything had been with him lately it was totally plausible. Thankfully Pidge seemed to agree since she dropped the subject immediately. With that Allura and Coran quickly gathered what they needed to make a blood contract.

***

It was late in the evening and Haggar was annoyed that her Manticore wasn’t back yet. It shouldn’t have been that difficult to do. The new Warlock wasn’t even good at casting magic yet. It would be like killing a toddler. All too easy. Yet he wasn’t back yet. It was annoying.

She hoped he was thorough job looking for the deed since the ring wouldn’t be too difficult to find since it was on that idiot warlock after all. She growled a little to herself from her desk as she went over what punishment she could give the stupid manticore if it came back empty handed.She was going to let Sendak deal with him. She’d let him get revenge for his missing eye.

Haggar went to pick up her cup and found that it was empty. Annoying. She thought she had filled it up a few minutes ago. With an annoyed huff she stood up with the intention to go to the break room. She only took two steps when she felt something inside her shatter. It rattled her bones and made her tumble to the ground.

Something was wrong. Something was seriously wrong. A connection was severed. Destroyed. This wasn’t right. She quickly sat up and desperately tried to summon the manticore back, but it refused. Her spell fizzled. She didn’t understand this, the only reason this would happen was if the Manticore was dead or if the blood contract was broken. 

The first was impossible and the second… She couldn’t comprehend that the new Warlock even had the intelligence to even know that was an option. Most demons didn’t even know that was a thing. Instantly a burning hatred filled her, but it wasn’t directed at the warlock nor the manticore. It was at herself. She underestimated them this time. She wouldn’t be so easily fooled the next.


	13. Littermates and stress

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shiro and Keith do demon bonding stuff, and Lance is still freaking the fuck out about magic. Boy needs a holiday from his life. Kudos and comment when you can. Enjoy :D

For the first time in a long time Keith had slept well. After Lance and Shiro signed a blood contract everyone started to disperse. Hunk and Pidge needed to get back to their place and Allura and Coran had to get back to their shop. Lance had wandered off to a room to crash in for the night while he and Shiro found a guest room filled with blankets and pillows to sleep in. Apparently Marcello was very accommodating to other entities sleeping needs.

So Keith woke up with Shiro’s manticore form wrapped protectively around him in a nest of pillows and blankets. It was nice. It felt good. He loved being able to wake up in Shiro’s protective embrace… Or at least his protective arm pinning him down.

He yawned a little and lightly patted Shiro’s arm until the older man yawned and stretched, giving Keith enough room to wriggle free. He sat next to Shiro and lightly patted Shiro’s face. He still couldn’t believe that Shiro was actually here. Shiro was here and safe. It made him happy.

Shiro’s ear twitched and he opened his eyes. “... I should smack you across the room for waking me up kit.”

Keith rolled his eyes. “I’m not a kit anymore. I’ve been able to hunt all by myself. I was able to successfully hunt two people without any assistance.”

“Oh? That’s really good. I’m proud of you.” He sat up and stretched. Keith watched him roll his shoulders and instantly felt sadness when he realised he’d never see Shiro stretch his wings anymore.

“... Does it still hurt?”

“Does what hurt?”

“You back. They took your wings.” Keith wanted to reach out and touch the wounds but knew better than that. “Do you need a balm or an ointment for it?”

Shiro shook his head and slowly morphed back into his more human form. “It will heal on its own. I’ve had worse injuries.”

“They took your wings Shiro.” Said Keith coldly. “You’ll never be able to fly again… Doesn’t that bother you?”

“... Yeah. But there isn’t much I can do about it now, can I?” He sounded bitter. As he should. Keith nodded a little and nuzzled the older male. He didn’t mean to upset him. He was just pointing it out. Luckily for him Shiro reciprocated and nuzzled him back. “Okay. Let’s get up and see what Lance is up to.”

“Okay.”

The duo got dressed and headed out. They walked around for a bit before they ended up in the kitchen. Keith found a bit of paper with something written on it. He picked it up and tried to read it.

“What is it?” Asked Shiro.

Keith shrugged and handed it over to Shiro. “I can’t read this modern human chicken scratch.”

Shiro shook his head in amusement. “You know humans have more than one language right? But I have to agree, English is kind of a garbage language.” He read the note and frowned. “Huh, okay. So Lance has classes today and will be back later in the evening. He’s asked us not to destroy the house or to track mud, dirt, or blood inside… I am guessing you haven’t been a very good house guest?”

Keith huffed and crossed his arms. “Well Lance is an asshole.”

Shiro laughed and ruffled his hair. “He’s your Summoner, and a new Warlock. He has no idea what he’s doing. Just give him a bit of time and you two will be getting along pretty well.” 

“Yeah? You think so?”

“Yep… Want to go out hunting?”

“Oh thank fuck you brought it up. I need to eat again.”

Shiro smiled and headed to the closet to try and find sore more appropriate clothes for hunting. Keith did the same and pulled more clean clothes into his backpack. 

***

Words weren’t making sense to Lance anymore. No matter how many times Lance read the slide that the professor showed them he just didn’t understand it. His brain was all muddled up and he completely blamed waking up all weird that morning on his current condition.

How was it weird? Everything in his room was floating when he woke up. That included himself. He was floating a good three inches above his mattress. It was like he was in some kind of possession movie. He flailed and then everything fell to the floor. Everything was relatively back in its place, but Lance was still freaking out. Why was everything floating? What if he started floating again? What would happen then? He was too stressed to concentrate.

And that wasn’t even scratching the surface. He was still stressed about school life and how he was very slowly starting to fall behind in his classes and the fact he was now technically in charge of two demons. Fucking two demons.

What was he meant to do now? What was one meant to do with two demons that eat people? Well one eats people and one eats sexual predators. So yeah. Did he have to provide them with food? Should he just try and look up a sex offender’s list and tell them to go nuts? He had no idea. How responsible for them was he? He was too young to be a parent to two man eating demons.

When class was over he went to a small cafe and contemplated calling the house to make sure that Shiro and Keith were okay, but he had no idea if they knew how to use the phone. They probably didn’t. They might rip it off the wall and stomp on it. But would the house fix itself if that happened? He had no idea.

He sighed to himself and drank some more coffee. It was bitter. More bitter than usual and he didn’t like it at all anymore. Which was kind of weird, but whatever. Nothing much he could do. He took a few more mouthfuls before he couldn’t stomach it anymore.

Lance left the cafe and walked down the street. He still needed to figure out what he was going to do with the house. What was going to happen to Keith and Shiro if he sold the place? Sure he’d still have to look after them or something since he couldn’t just tell them to go away. Rent was going to skyrocket at this rate.

He ended up ducking into a shop and was surprised to see that he was back in Allura and Coran’s shop. “Oh.”

Allura popped up from behind the counter. “Welcome to Altean Earthly Remedies! Oh, it’s you. Good afternoon Lance.”

“Afternoon Allura.” He said with a small smile.

“Well what can I help you with?”

Lance shrugged and walked over to her. “Eh, not much I guess. I kind of just wandered in here. Not really sure why.”

She frowned at him and looked down at his hands. “Oh really? Then why do you have that box of clara tea.”

“Huh?” Lance looked down at his hands and to his surprise he had grabbed a box of tea off the shelf. He groaned in annoyance and put it on the counter. “Damn it… I’ve been doing weird shit since I woke up… I woke up floating and my head has been all weird and I… I really don’t know anymore.”

Allura listened diligently to his worries before glancing down at the ring on his hand. “Well, if you would like my opinion, I think your ring is an object of power.”

“Well yeah. It translates everything for me and makes things fly at me and stuff.”

She nodded but kept her eyes on the ring. “Well, okay. I can understand that, but I think that ring is specifically an object of power. Many objects get imprinted with some kind of magical essence or have magic infused in them. Very few objects can be called an object of power. Your ring is seems to be trying to guide you. It grabbed that tea for you without you even noticing.”

“... So what? This thing is not only ring google but it’s also some weird parent too or some shit? The fuck? I hate this.”

Allura shrugged. “Well, maybe you should consider not fighting it? Embrace your new found magic? It will probably be better for you in the long run.”

“You think so?”

“Well yeah. Magic is like a river. It flows through you.” She explained. “You can build up mental dams to try and stop it, but eventually the dam will break and you will drown. You’ve been fighting against it ever since you found out about magic.”

“... Um, yeah.”

She nodded and put the box of tea he put on the counter in a paper bag. “Here. Your tea.”

“Oh! I don’t actually want that.”

“But you need it.” She informed. “Your ring knows without you even knowing. Lance, you are an empath. When you become more in tune with your ring lots of things will become second nature. Trust yourself. Trust your magic.”

Lance smiled a little when she said that. It did make him feel a tiny bit better. “Thanks Allura.”

He walked out of the shop and started to walk back to campus. He passed an alley when something suddenly grabbed hold of his leg. He jumped in surprise and looked down to see a small child had attached themselves to him. He looked down at the kid with confusion and crouched down.

“Hey kid. Are you okay? Did you lose your- Keith?!”

Keith looked up at Lance with his big, innocent looking doe eyes and grinned, showing off his bloody fangs. “Hi.”

Lance felt like his mind was going to implode. “What the absolute fucking-”

“Hey, don’t swear at me. I look six.”

“And why the heck do you look six?”

Keith shrugged. “I was hunting with Shiro. Got board after I cleaned up and Shiro’s still eating. I couldn’t be fucked to get changed back into my normal form, so I’m six.”

“... What do you mean you were hunting?”

“... You don’t want to go into that alley. Like, ever.”

Lance frowned at him, looked down the alley, and then back to Keith. “Who did you two eat?”

“Child molester.” Said Keith. “Shiro let me walk around a giant market place. Some guy took me into the alley so it bit them a paralyzed them. Shiro was following close behind so we ate him.”

“... Okay.” On one hand, murder was bad. On the other, it was a child molester. “So what? Does this mean now? Do I have to carry you around now and pretend to be your babysitter?”

“Isn’t a Summoner just a glorified babysitter anyway?”

“... Listen here you little demon shit. You don’t get to be correct about that.”

Keith rolled his eyes. “What are you going to do about it?”

“...” Lance picked Keith up. Keith was not expecting that so he let out a slightly distressed chirp.

Seconds later Shiro was next to them. He looked a little flustered and still had fresh blood running down his chin. “Oh, hi Lance.”

“Hey… You got a little something on your face.”

Shiro blushed a little and wiped it off his chin. “Sorry, sorry. I was in the middle of cleaning myself up when I heard Keith was in distress… But I can see now he was just exaggerating.”

“I wasn’t exaggerating!” Snapped Keith. “Lance is manhandling me and I hate it!”

Lance rolled his eyes and put Keith down. “If you don’t want to get grabbed don’t look like you’re six.”

Keith rolled his eyes right back at him. “Whatever.” He looked up at Shiro and reached up. “Put me on your shoulders.”

Shiro laughed and put Keith on his shoulder. “And you say you aren’t a kit.”

Shiro saying that made Keith’s face go bright red. “... I will pee down your back if you keep this up Shiro. You gave my this position of power. I will abuse it.”

“And that is classic grumpy kit behaviour.” Said Shiro. Keith pouted and crossed his arms. 

“I’m not a fucking kit.”

“You still look like one.” Said Lance. “So, what are you two going to do now?”

Shiro shrugged. “Well we were just planning to head back to the house and just relax for a bit. I really need to relax after everything… And Keith needs to nap.”

Keith growled at him and kicked his short legs. “I am not a kit! I don’t need a nap!”

“Your attitude says otherwise.” Reprimanded Shiro. He smiled a little at Lance and gave him a polite nod. “We’ll see you back there. Now say goodbye to Lance like a good boy. Keith.”

Keith growled and glared down at Shiro. “You talk a lot of shit for someone whose eyes are in eye gouging distance.”

“And you talk a lot of shit for something I could eat in two bites.”

Keith huffed and grumbled some more. “... Bye Lance. See you back at the house.” With that the two of them walked off.

There was something a little strange about the way that the two of them interacted with each other. It almost reminded Lance of the bickering he and Keith did almost every time they talked, but that was a little more… More playful? Shiro and Keith were brothers after all. They were probably more comfortable talking shit to each other… But since he and Keith bickered in a similar manner, did that mean Keith actually liked him?

That was a really weird thought. Keith was an absolute freaking monster. Quite literally too. He was a damn demon. To be fair it was kind of nice to know that Keith didn’t hate him. Maybe. He had no idea. Demons were difficult to understand.

For a brief moment he looked down the alley and felt a small tinge of dread. He didn’t want to see what those two could do to a body. He shuddered and quickly walked away. He still had two classes to get to before he was done for today. Maybe he could actually concentrate and get something done. Though he highly doubted it.


	14. 1477

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Enjoy more Shiro backstory. I got sad writing it right near the end. Kudos and comment when you can. Enjoy :D

After his classes were all over for the day Lance ended up going back to his and Hunk’s place to talk things over. Lance had come to the conclusion that he needed to stay at the estate because he was in charge of Shiro and Keith at the moment and honestly didn’t know how to send them back or terminate a blood contract.

Hunk was understanding but seemed a little unhappy about it. It was then that Lance asked him to move in with him. It would be rent free and they could bring Pidge along well if they wanted to join them too. It was closer to their classes and he’d feel a little better not being the only human in a house full of demons. It would take a while, but in the next few weeks or so.

Lance felt a little better about that and bought himself some cheap takeaway to eat. He still couldn’t believe how everything worked out in the end. He walked into one of the rooms and flopped onto a chair. Now he could eat his chow mein in piece.

Well, he was able to have two mouthfuls before he almost choked on some broccoli. “Holy fucking shit!” He gasped. “Since when the fuck do you know how to wall crawl?”

Keith, now back to his normal young adult form was currently crouched in the corner of the ceiling. He looked at Lance with surprise and gestured for him to stay quiet. “Shiro’s mad I fucked up one of the trees in the garden the other day. I’m getting out of gardening.”

“... Oh. I see… Carry on I guess?”

Keith nodded and went back to staying very still and very quiet. Lance nervously glanced up at him and tried to keep eating but he gave up pretty quickly. He couldn’t do this while Keith was in there. He picked up his stuff and left.

He ended up just sitting in the dining room and quietly ate by himself when Shiro walked in carrying a long pole with a small hook at the end of it. “Hey Lance.” He said. “Good to see you’re back. Have you seen Keith by the way? He’s hiding from me.”

“Okay, first of all, what’s with the stick?”

“Oh, it’s for opening windows.” Said Shiro. “Also thought I could use it to poke Keith out of any corners he decides to hide in. Since well… I could turn into a manticore and jump up to grab him, but there is less property damage this way”

“Fair enough.” Lance gestured to the room he was previously in. “Don’t destroy the place. Okay?”

“Thanks.” Shiro quickly left the room and Lance got to hear an interesting shouting match. “Found you!”

“HISSSSSSSSSSS!!!”

“Get down here right now Keith!”

“Come up here and make me you- OW! Did you just poke me with a stick?”

“I’ll poke you in the eye next time if you don’t get down right now.”

“Make me.”

After that there was a lot of animal sounds like growling, hissing and screeching. There was scratching and thumping. Then a very loud screeching as something fell off the ceiling and hit the floor. After that Lance saw Keith running past the door quickly followed by Shiro. Was this going to be his life right now? He sighed a little and hoped a door would suddenly open up in front of Keith and knock him over.

***

Keith glanced over his shoulder to see how far Shiro was behind him. He was far enough away. He grinned and turned back, only run straight into a door that suddenly swung out at him. He crashed into hit, knocked it off its hinges and smashed his face into the ground.

“KEITH!” Yelled Shiro in a panic as he rushed to his side. “Are you okay?

With a growl, Keith sat up and spat out a tooth. “... Fuck… Hold this for me.” He handed Shiro the tooth as he forcefully and violently snapped his nose back into place with a sickening crack. He then took his tooth back from Shiro and shoved it back into his gums until he felt the nerves and blood vessels reconnecting to it. “There. All better. Stupid magic house.”

Shiro shrugged. “Well that’s what you get for running in the house.”

“Yeah yeah…”

“Okay, Now you have to help me with the tree.” He grabbed Keith by the collar and dragged him outside. Keith was not happy about this but rolled the pot back in place and repotted it while Shiro watched on. “There. That wasn’t so hard now was it?”

Keith grumbled and wiped the dirt off on his hands. “Yeah, yeah I’m going back to our room. I’m tired.”

“Told you.” Said Shiro. “You totally needed a nap after hunting.”

Keith rolled his eyes. “That’s only because it takes a lot out of me to shrink down and look six.”

Shiro laughed and shook his head. “I’ll be up in a bit. I’m going to check on Lance.”

“... Okay?” Keith didn’t really know why Shiro wanted to check on Lance. The human seemed pretty content with keeping them as far away from them as possible.

***

Once Shiro was back inside the house he went to one of the many unused rooms to retrieve Adam. Normally he would have the skull wrapped in cloth and securely hanging from his neck with rope, bit that was kind of hard to do in his current humanoid form. He was just content to carry him around when he was alone.

He found Lance sitting on a couch in front of a glass screen that was making sounds and showing people. Some other magic thing or human thing? Shiro didn’t know.

“... Hey?”

Lance glanced over at him. “Oh hey. Did you catch Keith?”

“Yeah, a door swung open and knocked one of his fangs out. But it’s fine. He put it back in.”

“... A door just swung open?”

“Yeah.”

“...”

“Lance?”

The brunte just shook his head. “Nevermind… Do you need something?”

“Not really.” He sat by Lance and put Adam’s skull on the pillow next to him. “I just wanted to see how you were going. Being a new warlock is probably not doing you any favours… And I did kind of try to murder you and I did murder your uncle…”

Lance shrugged. “Don’t worry about it. You were under contract by Haggar to murder us and stuff. My uncle already knew he was going to die and it’s not like he didn’t expect it so I guess I can’t be that mad at you for that? Plus I didn’t know him at all.” He sighed loudly. “I’m just kind of at this point where everything just seems to be against me. I’m going to school and I’m trying to be an elementary school teacher, but I’ve just been here a week and I can already tell my grades are slipping and I won’t graduate.”

“... And you can’t be a teacher unless you graduate?” Asked Shiro. He wasn’t too sure what this school thing was, but he had a vague idea what a teacher was. He thought it was a noble thing that Lance wanted to teach others. He had found it a very rewarding thing when he went and taught Keith some hunting techniques when he was a much younger kit.

Lance nodded. “Yeah. When we graduate we get this special paper that lets other people know we are capable of looking after little kids, oh um, kits.”

“I know what kids are Lance.”

“Right…” Lance nervously tapped his foot and glanced over at him. “So… Um… Can I ask you something?”

“Sure.”

“... So I’m apparently an empath and I feel the strong emotions given off by special objects. Objects of power or something.” Lance explained. “When I touched Adam all I feel is deep sadness and regrets, along with a few other bad things… I guess what I’m asking is, could you tell me how Adam died, and why? Like, it’s okay if you don’t want to. I totally understand. It’s your private life and stuff, but I just… I’m an empath and am curious.”

Shiro was a little stunned by Lance’s question, but he honestly couldn’t say he was surprised. Any human would be curious. He picked up Adam and stared into his skull. He didn’t know if he should tell Lance what happened since he was ashamed of his actions, but he was an empath and hopefully wouldn’t judge him for what he did.

“... The year was 1477.” He said quietly. “I met Adam in 1477.”

***

Shiro had pulled himself through a crack that he had found to hunt down some fresh meat. Not that there wasn’t food where he was, but he felt like eating humans that day. He easily found and consumed a human that wandered along a path through the forest. They tasted good and Shiro took the man’s clothes and ventured as close as he could to the nearest village. If he was lucky he could lure someone away and eat them. 

If not he didn’t mind observing the humans for a bit. He’d always liked observing. Part of it was curiosity and part of it was natural instinct. He needed to observe to survive after all. Near this particular village there was a small house just a bit away from everyone else. From the safety form the forest’s treeline and with his superior vision, Shiro observed several humans coming and going. Never the same one. Young, old, male, female. Everyone seemed to go there.

Shiro had started his observations early in the morning and it was midafternoon when he finally saw the occupant of said house emerge. A man with skin much darker than the other people of the village and dark brown hair the same as bark. He had a satchel slung around his broad shoulders.

He walked to the small garden by the house and started to gather a few things, putting them into the satchel before walking a few steps and repeating the same process over and over again. It was curious to say the least. Humans are silly creatures.

After repeating this process several times the man dusted his hands off and started to head vaguely in Shiro’s direction towards the forest. Curious as to what this human was doing, Shiro followed him. Once again the man would walk a few steps, stop, gather plants and keep walking. This was extremely odd behaviour in Shiro’s opinion. He hadn’t observed many humans doing something like this before.

As he followed the man deeper into the forest Shiro started to become a little uneasy. The man had strayed off the main path and was walking into areas that smelled strongly of wolves and bears. Granted he knew he would be fine. A pack of wolves or a bear was nothing to him, but humans tended to die really, really easily.

The human crouched down to look at some mushrooms when Shiro heard a twig snap off in the distance. Much too quiet and far away for the human to hear. His eyes instantly landed on what made the noise. A wolf. A lone wolf. It must have been kicked from the pack for aggression or something. It wasn’t uncommon for these things to happen. Even in demon packs if an individual was too aggressive they would either be chased from the pack or killed to snuff out said aggression.

This wolf seemed hungry and was eyeing the human that was completely oblivious to its presence. In a matter of minutes it would strike and the human would die. Kind of their fault for walking all the way out here by themselves. Anything could happen to them. He, a manticore was following them for crying out loud. He should probably just leave now but he really didn’t want to. He still wanted to know more about this human.

So on a selfish whim Shiro hid himself well and changed into a manticore for the single purpose of breaking one of the hundreds of poisoned quills from the end of his tail before changing back into a man. The wolf had moved a little by then and was much closer to the man now. The man himself had gathered his mushrooms and was about to leave when the wolf came into his vision. It was low to the ground and growling quietly.

The man froze and Shiro could smell the fear just rolling off him in waves. Shiro needed to time this just right. The second the wolf pounced at the man, Shiro also pounced. He launched himself through the air and easily intercepted the wolf midair. He grabbed at its face with one hand while he drove the quill deep into the wolf's side.

The two of them rolled when they hit the ground and the wolf managed to bite Shir’s arm, but Shiro knew it was futile. The venom in his quill could easily kill most things. What chance did this thing have? But for good measure he ripped the quill out of its side and stabbed it a few more times around the heart and neck.

Once he was sure it was dead he stood up and looked at the human he had been stalking. He looked quite shaken up, which was understandable. He approached the man to ask if he was okay when the man suddenly started yelling at him.

“You idiot!” He yelled. “That would could have killed you! What were you thinking? Do you have a death wish? What the hell is wrong with you?”

Shiro was a little taken aback by his rudeness, but couldn’t stop himself from laughing. Most people would be singing the praises of the person that rescued him, but not this man. It was at that moment that Shiro decided that they liked this human.

“What? No thank you?”

The man rolled his eyes and started to look through his satchel. “Yes, yes. Thank you for saving my life. You are still an idiot.” He took out some cloth. He pulled Shiro’s sleeve up and quickly bandaged it up. “There’s not a lot I can do for you until we get back to my house. Once there I can treat this wound properly.”

Shiro nodded slowly as he watched him work. “I see. People call me Shiro. Who might you be?”

“... Adam. People call me Adam.”

Shiro learnt a fair bit about Adam as they talked. Apparently Adam was known around the town for being a healer or medicine man of sorts. He took care of the people when they came to him for help, but he wasn’t looked upon favourably by many people because of his skin colour and the extremely religious Catholic village where he lived. Shiro found it odd that humans would dislike each other based on skin colour. They all tasted the same in the end. At least that’s what he thought.

After their first encounter Shiro left back through the crack from whence he came. That should have been it, but it wasn’t. Shiro frequently found himself going back to the village to see Adam. The human did seem a little annoyed that he kept coming back, but Shiro could smell the relief coming off him when he was around. It made him happy. Adam let him into his life more and more and Shiro was happy to be there with him. Though he did need to leave to feed. He didn’t technically need to eat humans all the time, but he did need to eat a large amount of meat.

People from the village started to recognise Shiro too, which he wasn’t sure he liked that much. If anyone asked he would tell them that he is a hunter and simply hunts where there is food or goes to hunt animals that man choose not to hunt. Both were technically true. He was a hunter and most humans didn’t kill and eat other humans or hunt demons. Some of the villagers were content with this and let him be, but some openly despised him and whispered loudly about not going to church. Shiro didn’t even know what a church was.

It was around this time Shiro happened to meet Keith and Akira, becoming part of their pack. Shiro enjoyed helping Akira take care of the kit and was very thankful Akira didn’t question him when he said he needed space and time to himself. But after a while Shiro realized his feelings for Adam had started to grow to the point there were far beyond that of friendship. He confided this information to Akira late one night when Keith was already fast asleep.

Akira was surprised to hear that Shiro had fallen hard for a human, but he wasn’t judgemental. He had assumed Krolia was just a normal human woman when he first fell for her. He did his best to give Shiro advice when it came to love.

“I’d say go for it.” Said Akira. “You love him, right? You want the best for him? Just kiss him and tell him you love him. Worst that could happen is that he rejects you, right?”

“He doesn’t know I’m a manticore.” Reminded Shiro. “What if he thinks I’m a monster?”

“Then he isn’t worth your time.” Said Akira calmly. “Just confess to him and if he takes it well then you can work on confessing the whole truth to him. Keith and I would be happy to have Adam join our pack… I could get in touch with Keith’s sar and we could see about teaching him some magic. Nothing fancy. Just enough to defend himself.”

Shiro smiled a little at that and nodded in agreement. “Okay. I’ll talk to him.”

So he did, but it was awkward. Shiro didn’t know how to do it or when to do it. Before he knew it, it was becoming dusk and it was time for him to head back to his pack. So he panicked and kissed Adam right on the lips. Adam instantly froze in his arms and stared at Shiro with confusion and almost horror. It tore at Shiro’s heart but he knew he’d made a mistake.

“I’m sorry Adam. I think I love you… Goodbye.” Shiro quickly ran back into the forest just knowing he could never show his face in the village again. The only reason he was there in the first place was to see Adam. But now that he’d kissed him and it didn’t work out what was he meant to do?

He closed his eyes and reverted back to his manticore form. He was upset and frustrated at himself for thinking anything could come of this. To relieve some of this frustration Shiro started knocking down trees. He needed to do something to relieve his frustrations before he went back to his pack.

“Sh-Shiro?” Panted a very out of breath Adam. Evidently the man had followed him into the forest. The fear rolling off him was palpable at this point. Shiro froze in shock, not sure of what to do. Would he run now and tell the rest of the village? Would he start cursing at him? Why did he even follow him in the first place? All these questions and more raced through Shiro’s mind as Adam very, very slowly walked up to him. “Shiro? Do you recognise me?”

He couldn’t help but smile at that. Of course he recognised him even if he was in his manticore form. “Adam.”

The man seemed a little surprised to hear Shiro say his name, but he smiled kindly at him anyway. “Shiro, I love you too.”

Shiro couldn’t believe it, but he was immensely happy. Once everything had calmed down a little the two of them talked it out. Apparently Adam had his suspicions about Shiro’s humanity since the second time they met and the bite mark on Shiro’s arm was practically healed. After that they fell into each other’s arms and spent the night in each other’s embrace.

From there they made plans to leave. The plan was simple; they would pack all of Adam’s things and they would meet with Shiro’s pack. From there they would meet Keith’s sar and move their pack closer to the coven. Shiro just needed to make sure that everything was okay with Akira first. Once that was done, he would be back for Adam.

He had been gone a week. 

Only a week.

So much changed in one week.

He arrived back at the village only to see that Adam’s home had been burned to the ground. He walked through the ashes, completely stunned. What happened? Where was Adam? He’d have to go into the village to find him.

Along the way to the village he happened to come across a farmer heading out to tend to their field. “Excuse me!” Called Shiro. “Do you know what happened to Adam? His house seems to have burnt down while I was gone.”

The farmer frowned and gave Shiro a very judgemental look. “Oh, you’re the hunter who lives out in the forest, aren’t you?”

“Yes?”

“Makes sense you wouldn’t know… Adam was a witch.”

“... What?”

“We had a trial. There was a witch finder in the next village over. Didn’t take anymore than a few days before we were burning the witch at the stake.”

Shiro’s blood ran cold. “Burning… burn the witch… How did you know?”

“An eyewitness saw him conversing with a demon in the forest.” Said the farmer. “... A horrific thing. Larger than a bear. Wings like a bat. Tail tipped with spear heads. Good riddance I say. We didn’t need that kind of filth around.”

“... W-where is his body?” Asked Shiro.

The man shrugged. “Should still be strung up in the town square. We usually leave those sinners strung up for a few weeks to deter anyone else from following that path.”

Shiro didn’t need to hear anymore. This couldn’t be rea; This couldn’t be right. There was no way Adam was dead. They were going to leave this place and be together. This wasn’t possible. But when he got to the middle of the village he saw the body, Adam’s body. All distinguishing features had burnt away. Any flesh left was slowly getting eaten away by the crows that were able to perch on his remains.

He dropped to his knees as he looked up at Adam’s skull. His eyes had long since melted away or had been eaten the crows. Shiro’s heart was hammering in his chest. Why did they do this to him? He wasn’t a witch. He wasn’t. But someone saw him with Adam while he was in his manticore form. Who were they? Why did they think Adam was a witch because they saw them together? But even if he was accused there was no actual proof that he was a witch. He couldn’t cast magic or anything like that. This was all his fault. All his fault. Because of him Adam was...

No.

No it wasn’t Shiro’s fault. It was this village. This entire fucking village had it out for Adam. They kept him as far away as possible for no reason, but he still helped them to much with his medicines. They took advantage of him and killed him the second they could. A burning hatred slowly started to fill him, making him shake in anger. Humans were an angry, stupid, violent lot. Everyone of them was guilty for Adam’s death.

The entire village needed to die.

A bone rattling roar escaped Shiro’s throat and shook every building as Shiro gave into his anger. He didn’t care who he hurt. He didn’t care who he killed. Young, old, male or female. The whole village would die. He’d level the whole place to the ground. By the time he had some semblance of sanity back the streets were red with blood and body parts decorated every part.

The only building he hadn’t touched was that of the building with the letter t on it. Adam had explained to him when he had asked that it was a sacred place that was meant to keep its believer’s safe from demons. Something about sanctified ground

In all honesty, there were many places like that and the concept of sanctified ground was bullshit. They were just places that humans believed were safe. If their believe was strong enough it was generally enough to turn most demons away, but after his rampage he knew that this place would no longer keep him out if he really wanted to go in. Which he did.

This entire village would turn to dust.

He burst through the doors with a deafening roar. He knocked one of the doors off its hinges and crushed whoever was stupid enough to stand infront of it. People were screaming. Shiro just flicked his tail in the general directions of the screams until they shut up.

Eventually all that was left was Shiro and one man. He had no idea who this person was or what their role was in Adam’s death, but he was just as guilty as the rest of them. He growled darkly as he slowly walked to the man.

“Y-you can’t be in here!” Said the man. “This is a house of God!”

“I see no god.” Growled Shiro. “Only an empty box.”

The man gulped and started shaking. “G-God is in all his churches. You have no power here.”

Adam knew nothing of the gods of humans. He didn’t care about the gods of humans. They were inconsequential to him. “You killed an innocent man.”

“H-he was a witch! A witch!”

“Lies.” Shiro was starting to shake with anger again. “You tell nothing but lies. I wouldn’t be here if the people in this fucking village weren’t liars. Adam was no witch… One week. You bastards just had to wait one week and we would have been gone forever… But you… All of you… After what you’ve done to Adam you’re not even worth eating.” 

He lunged forward and ripped off the man’s head, spitting it out and letting it roll across the wooden floor. After that there was nothing. Not scared breathing or loud beating hearts. It was nothing but dead silence. Not even the crows wanted to feed in this place with Shiro was still there.

He walked out to Adam’s skeleton and removed the skull from the body with ease. Adam was gone. Everything about him was gone. There was nothing Shiro could do for him anymore. His love for Adam was just a curse. He wrapped the skull in some soft cloth and carefully wrapped some rope around it. Once he was sure that it was secure he wrapped the rope around his neck and left to go back to his pack.

***

“-and that’s how I came to be in possession of Adam’s skull.” Said Shiro. “The gold is from this technique Akira taught me to mend it and keep it together. I cracked a few times early on.”

By the end of Shiro’s story, ugly tears were rolling down Lance’s face. “Th-that’s horrible! No wonder I feel so much guilt and regret when I touch his skull…”

Shiro nodded sadly. “Yeah… But there isn’t much I can do about it. What’s done is done. All I can hope is that one day, if I can somehow meet Adam again he can forgive me for failing him…”

Lance sniffled and wiped the tears from his eyes. “I-I’m sure he will. I know he will, if you do see him again. I know he will… Fuck, I’m so sorry that happened to you…”

“It’s okay. I’ve had literal centuries to come to terms with what happened to him… I still miss him though… His skull is literally the only thing I have left of him.”

Lance reached over and patted him on the back. “I am so sorry Shiro… I um… I’m glad you told me about that when you didn’t have to… So like, does Keith know about this?”

“No.” Said Shiro quickly. “He was too young when it all happened and I don’t want him to feel guilty about not being able to help me when Adam died… He was just a kit that didn’t know any better. There wasn’t anything he could do for me then… And to be honest the last thing any of us need are more regrets.”

“Still…”

Shiro shrugged and stood up. “Well that was emotionally draining. I’m going to head back to my room… Night Lance. Hope you can figure out what you want to do about school.”

“Yeah. Okay. Night.” Lance let out a long sigh. He expected a heavy story behind how Shiro got Adam’s skull, but that was so sad. Now he felt emotionally drained.


	15. Curious and Curiouser

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A little insight into Pidge's internship and Lance is just trying to be a good boy and balance his warlock and student life. Just something a little lighter after all the drama that was the previous chapter. I think we all deserve it. Kudos and comment when you can. Enjoy :D

Pidge was extremely excited. First day interning at Daibazzal was just some orientation stuff. She and three other people from her class had to watch a video going over safety and privacy, along with some OSHA. They then went off to get their photos and thumb prints for security reasons. A man called Haxus gave them basic orientation about how important their ID’s were and if they lost their ID they would not get past the first security checkpoint no matter if their thumb print was in the system or not. They took security very seriously.

Now it was the second day and she was happily waiting in the lobby for the person who was going to mentor her for her internship. A woman with her hair done up in a high ponytail entered the lobby and quickly looked around until her eyes landed on Pidge.

“Ah! You’re Katie, right?”

“Yeah?”

“Good. You’re my intern. Follow me.”

Pidge nodded and quickly followed the woman through security and to the elevator. It was a little hard to believe this bubbly person was the person she was interning with. “Um… So what do I call you?”

The woman looked surprised before she gasped. “Oh, I totally forgot to tell you my name! Sorry, no coffee in the morning makes me kind of dumb. I’m Ezor. Just call me Ezor, or Miss Ezor. We’re working on spine stuff and some VR.” 

“VR?”

She nodded. “Yeah, long story short we had this guy do some freelance stuff for it, but one of our old bosses stiffed him when it came to paying up. He isn’t working here anymore. So now we have this VR program BS thing that we have to try and worth through and we have to find all the bugs in it. It’s so shitty.”

“Huh… Alright?”

They got to Ezor’s floor and the two of them got out. Ezor happily walked into a relatively large open space with several smaller offices. In the open space, there were a few interesting looking prosthetic's; a leg with some wires attached to a small blackbox, a robotic hand, a complete metal spine and one very, very familiar looking right arm.

“... Whoa.”

“Hmm? Yeah, it’s all pretty impressive stuff.” Said Ezor. “The arm there is the most fiddly, annoying thing in the entire planet. I feel sorry for the first poor bastard who has to get this implanted. The guy needs to be awake for most of it to make sure everything gets hooked up properly. Not fun my dude.”

“Yeah…” The fact that the arm was here was really, really weird and Pidge wasn’t sure what to think about it,

“But don’t worry, once we get the kinks worked out it should be all good.”

“Ah, okay. Cool.”

Ezor smiled and happily showed her around their office space. “Alright! Let me show you to the other people in our unit.” She pointed to a very built woman sitting at a desk while drinking coffee. “That’s Zethrid. She’s an engineering marvel and a half.” She then pointed at another office where a woman in a white coat was writing things on a whiteboard. “That’s Acxa. Queen of logic and reasoning.” Ezor then pointed to another woman who was sitting in her office while petting a cat. “That’s Narti. She’s like 95% blind and she’s mute, so not the best conversationalist. Also means you can’t move things in the office that much or she will trip over them and hurt herself.”

“Ah, okay.”

Ezor smiled and pointed her to an empty office. “And that’s our boss’s room. Director Lotor. He’s the son of Zarkon. The big boss of this whole operation. He’ll probably be in soon. Lotor’s always bouncing around different divisions. Some days he’s here and some days he’s there. If he shows up I’ll introduce you.”

Pidge nodded. “Okay. Sounds good.”

“Yep. Now let’s get you set up.” Ezor took her to her office and shower her the simple desk set up they had for her. It wasn’t anything too fancy. Just a plain desk with a company issued laptop. Ezor went over a few things about how she wanted Pidge to go over a few of their old designs and mark any improvements they could make and she’d see how close it is to what they actually did. “Just a little exercise while I go and double check what I can and cannot give you access to.”

Pidge nodded and gave her a thumbs up. “Duly noted. I got this.” She went ahead and started to read over the documentation that Ezor showed her. Once Ezor was satisfied that Pidge had a handle on everything the older woman skipped off to the break room to get a coffee or something.

When she was gone, Pidge looked up at the arm again in the middle of the open space with all the other things. That was totally Shiro’s arm. How did Shiro get one of these arms? Did they have something to do with Shiro or did they give it to someone who put it on Shiro? She wasn’t sure.

She would have to talk to Shiro about this later. He probably knew more than he let on but had suppressed the memories. They needed to find out who did this. It could be a huge breach of security. 

As she pondered this she saw a rather tall man with long white hair walk in. He glanced over at her and was startled for a moment. He opened the door to the office and looked at her. “Excuse me, I do not mean to be rude, but who are you?”

Pidge quickly got up and quickly adjusted her glasses. “I-I’m Pidge, I mean, Katie Holt. I’m an intern. I’m supposed to be following Ezor around. I think she went to get coffee or something.”

The man frowned at her before slowly nodding. “I see… Well I am the director of this department. I am Lotor. It is nice to meet you Miss Katie. Ezor has informed you about moving things on the main floor?”

“Yeah, she told me not to because of Narti.”

“Good. Well, if you need anything I’ll be in my office today.”

“Noted. Thanks.”

The man nodded and moved to his office and Pidge’s eyes moved back to the arm. This was a puzzle. A complete and absolute puzzle that she needed to solve. She was going to solve it. The world gave her this puzzle that she was going to figure out.

***

Lance sat in the ballroom and attempted to lift a painting off a wall with his mind. It wasn’t working out very well. He wasn’t even making it wiggle. All he was doing was giving himself a massive headache. He sighed and lied down on the floor. This sucked. How was he able to make things fly around like it was nothing, but now nothing. 

“Why am I so dumb…” He whined.

“Because you were dropped as a kit?” Asked Keith as he entered the room.

Lance rolled his eyes and flipped him off. “Shut ip man. It was only once and I landed on a pillow.”

“... Huh. Okay.” He walked over and sat next to Lance, giving him a curious look. “So… What are you trying to do?”

“I’m trying to move stuff with my mind but I can’t… I feel stupid. I’m an empath, but I just… I’m stupid.”

Keith frowned at him. “... You know empath’s powers come from their emotions? Like, it’s not about what’s in your head it’s all about what you’re feeling.”

“And you know this how?”

“My sar is an empath.”

“... Really?”

Keith nodded and his frown continued to grow. “Yeah… She knows all about that kind of magic, so if you want to talk to her about it…”

“You’d let me?”

“Yeah… You’re kind of a shitty warlock right now. You need all the help you can get.”

“... Well aren’t you an asshole.”

“You threw a piano and a harp at Shiro.” Said Keith as he rolled his eyes. “You just destroyed those instruments for no reason.”

“Um, excuse me? He tried to kill me?”

Keith shrugged. “Well it’s your fault. You should have just locked him in instead of yelling out for me.”

Lance pouted and sat up. “Oh come on man, I was worried about you. Shiro smacked you into the wall like it was nothing, and I heard so many things crack… I was kind of worried that you might have been really hurt… and I really didn’t know what to do if you got hurt. Not like I can take you to a hospital or anything.”

Keith stared at him in shock. “You were worried about me?”

“No shit. I don’t know healing magic or anything like that.” Said Lance. “I can’t do anything cool unless it’s by accident. Whatever powers I have is random and spontaneous…”

“... You know I’m practically indestructible, right?” Asked Keith quietly. “I break my bones every time I change my shape. It’s no big deal to me. Getting thrown into a wall sucks, but breaking bones does nothing to me. Just… Thanks for being concerned I guess?”

Lance shrugged and stood up. “No problem man. I mean, if you died I’d really be fucked, right?”

“... I guess.”

Lance smiled a little and walked out of the room. He went to the dining room and started to work on his collage stuff since he had fallen behind on a few required readings. It was nothing too difficult, but it was a lot. Out of the corner of his eye he could see Keith very quietly slinking into the room and trying to look over his shoulder.

“... Can I help you?”

“What are you reading?”

“Collage stuff.” He hoped that would stop him from hanging around him, but that just seemed to interest Keith more.

“What does that word say?”

“Inconsequential.”

“And that one?”

“Performance.”

“And that one?”

Lance groaned in annoyance. “For fuck’s sake… Can you not read English?”

Keith shook his head. “No. I only know Latin and Infernal.”

That made Lance pause for a moment and look at Keith in surprise. “Really? But you speak English really well.”

Keith shook his head again. “I’m not speaking English. I’m speaking Infernal. The language of demons. It’s standard practice to use a verbal translation spell on ourselves when we come to earth to communicate. When someone summons a demon it’s just an automatic spell that gets bundled along with the usual summoning stuff.”

Lance nodded a little. “Huh, so this means that you can hear other languages in Infernal, but you can’t read written words? Like, at all?”

Keith nodded. “Yeah. I’m bothering you, aren’t I?”

“Um…”

“Okay.” Keith quickly left the room and Lance was confused. He didn’t understand what that was all about. Okay, Keith couldn’t read anything that wasn’t Latin or Infernal… He could work with that? Maybe? Should he teach Keith some basic English words? Might make things easier for him… But then again would he be willing to learn?

Why did he even care in the first place? Keith was an asshole. He didn’t seem to give a damn about anyone or anything that wasn’t himself or Shiro. Those two were practically joined at the hip at this point, which he could kind of understand? How did demon packs work? They weren’t the same demon species. Was there an A/B/O dynamic thing going on? There were so many different pack dynamics he could look at and...

No. He didn’t need to think about that now. He had school stuff to do. He needed to get this reading done. He had to do it. He had to… He had to figure out all the different kinds of packs there were in the animal kingdom.


	16. Necromancy and Empaths

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lance tries and fails to do his school work. Hunk and Pidge move in. Also, they feed the demons people food for their reactions... Maybe some foreshadowing? Hmmmmmmmm? kudos and comment when you can. Enjoy :D

Nothing much happened while Pidge and Hunk moved into the estate. They got to pick whatever room they wanted to move into and Pidge went about hooking up the entire house with good wifi. Hunk basically made the kitchen his own, which was good but he and Shiro did argue a little over what food they needed.

“But vegetables are good for you.” Said Hunk.

“But we’re basically carnivores.” Said Shiro. “Sure we can eat grains and vegetables when there aren’t a lot of animals around, but meat is much better for us.”

“But meat is so expensive… Can you eat fish or does it have to be red meat?”

“Fish is good, but we don’t eat it a lot because it’s either too small or large enough to eat us.”

“... Fair point. You guys good with mince and sausages? That stuff is pretty cheap?”

Shiro thought about this for a moment. “Well, as long as it’s raw meat Keith and I will eat it. Cooked meat it okay, but everyone has their own preference, right?”

Hunk was slightly horrified by this but relented and made sure to get meat in bulk for both demons. It was either that or let the two of them go out and hunt whenever they felt like it. Which was a horrible idea. It was a miracle no one had seen a tiny child running around all bloodied and eating entrails. It was kind of messed up really.

Pidge managed to wrangle in a decent sized TV and hooked up one of her many gaming systems to it. Keith had taken a particular interest in it. He watched her suspiciously from the other side of the room. He was squirming around and kind of ducking and bobbing his head a little in an almost agitated kind of way.

“... You doing alright over there Keith?” She asked.

“What are you doing?” He asked. “What is that? Why is that mirror thing so big? What does it do?”

She seemed surprised by his ignorance, but just rolled with it. “Human technology. It helps us see what’s going on in the wider world and offers hours of mindless entertainment. Also, I am hooking up a game’s system. It’s so we can play games on it. For fun.”

“... What kind of games?” Keith cautiously moved over to her. “Things like hunt and hide? Tail pull? Statue?”

“... I have no idea what any of those games are, but hunt and hide sounds like hide and seek.” Said Pidge. “Is it a game where someone hides and the other person looks for them?”

He nodded. “Yeah.”

“What about the other ones?” Asked Pidge. “What is tail pull?”

“You find the biggest, most dangerous creature in the area and pull on its tail when it’s sleeping.” Said Keith. “Loser is the one that wakes it up. Statue is similar, but it’s all about finding demons thats eyesight is based on movement and trying to move through their cave without getting attacked.”

“... Well video games are much safer. Here, let me show you one.”

Keith nodded and watched Pidge play a round of Mortal Kombat. As he watched her he couldn’t help but duck and bob around a little in time with the character. “... So you are controlling the character all by yourself?”

“Yep.”

“With that little plastic button thing?”

“Yep.”

“... Am I allowed to have a go?”

“Sure. Once I’ve finished this game we can play two player and I’ll show you how to play. I’ll go easy on you.” She said as she delivered a K.O to her opponent, and started round two. 

“More than one person can play this game?” Asked Keith with a hint of excitement.

“... Buddy, I have a whole new world of gaming to show you.”

***

While all this was going on Lance was hiding in his own room trying to finish off all his school stuff. He’d finished his readings and was just starting on the mock syllabus he needed to complete. It wasn’t easy, but he liked it. He’d always liked writing these things. Why was it so hard for him now?

Lance sighed loudly and lied back on his bed. Did he have writer’s block or something? Was he still a little distracted by the fact his warlock powers were messed up? He didn’t know. Damn it all he wanted to do was to be able to do his school work, get his degree, and get a small handle on his powers. Was that too much to ask for? The universe said yes.

He sighed louder and kicked some papers onto the ground. Lance hated this. His grades were slipping, he needed to set up meetings with his professors, and he was still having problems with magic. He hadn’t been able to move anything around when he wasn’t in the library since Shiro tried to kill him.

If he wanted to, he could always drop out. Which he really, really didn’t want to do. He wanted to be a teacher. He didn’t want to be a warlock. He couldn’t do proper magic or anything cool, unless getting concussed by flying books was considered cool now. He rolled onto his stomach and attempted to smother himself when Hunk walked in. 

“Hey buddy. Can I come in?”

He nodded and gave him a thumbs up. “Yeah sure. What’s up?”

“Nothing much. Just making sure you’re taking a break.”

“... I have stuff to do.”

“I know. But come down and have lunch with us. We’re seeing Shiro and Keith’s reaction to tacos.”

“... Crunchy or soft shell tacos?”

“Both.”

“This I gotta see.”

When they got to the kitchen they were there just in time to see Pidge holding cilantro up to the demon’s faces. Shiro looked confused while Keith looked like he was going to bite her hand. “Come on. I gotta know.”

“What are you trying to find out?” Asked Lance.

“If they think cilantro tastes like soap.” Said Pidge. “It’s for science.”

Shiro gave them confused looks. “I don’t get it. She said some people think it tastes like soap and neither of us see why we should eat it.”

“For science.” Said Pidge. “Eat it.” She held it up to their faces. “Do it.”

Keith growled at her and bit down on it, essentially he ate all the cilantro in her hand. He slowly chewed it before pulling a face and spitting it out into his hands. “Disgusting.”

Pidge snickered and handed Keith a paper towel. “Here you go. Stick it in that and pit it in the trash.”

Keith grumbled and did what he was told while Hunk just shook his head and made Shiro and Keith crunchy and soft shelled tacos. The demons gave the food very confused looks. Luckily for them Hunk came to their rescue and showed them how to eat tacos. The soft shelled tacos was fine, but the crunchy ones pretty much exploded in their hands and mouths. It was one of the most amazing things to see.

Eventually Keith got annoyed and decided to just eat the raw mince Hunk hadn’t put away yet. Shiro thanked Hunk for his efforts and quickly joined Keith in eating the raw mince. They growled and snapped at each other a little when they both tried to reach into the container for a handful of raw meat. It kind of reminded Lance of animals fighting over a kill in an animal documentary.

The three humans just let the demons do what they wanted while they ate their own tacos. Hunk’s cooking was the best. Everyone loved this man’s cooking, and with Lance’s wealth they could afford some decent food, and a lot of meat for the two demons.

“... Wait, how often do you two need to eat anyway?” Asked Lance.

Shiro quickly wiped the blood off his lips. “Depends, but I need to eat my own body weight in meat once a week to stay healthy. Keith should eat half his body weight once a week, but he can technically go for a month without eating anything.”

Lance nodded a little as he thought this over. “... Maybe I get just get meat delivered here?”

“Possibly.” Said Pidge. “I mean, there are grocery store apps… They might find it weird you’re buying like… enough meat to feed a frat house each week.”

Lance shrugged. “Well, I gotta do something to make sure they don’t go out and eat people.”

“I’m still going to eat people.” Said Keith.

“You shut your mouth.” Said Lance. “No more people eating.”

“Your planet is overpopulated with degenerates that need to be culled anyway.” Said Keith like it was the most obvious thing in the world. “I literally eat peadophiles and rapists. Pretty sure you don’t want them around or am I mistaken?”

“... You still shouldn’t eat people! That’s bad!”

“You’re just saying that because you’re a human.”

“Yes!”

“... I’m still going to eat people.”

Lance groaned in annoyance. “Why do I have to deal with this? What did I do to deserve it?”

“Not pay attention in Catholic school?” Suggested Pidge. “Spoke Latin from an old creepy book and summoned a demon because you are an idiot?”

“... Shut up and eat your taco…”

***

Later that evening Lance was back in the library. He was happily reading through several books about nothing in particular. He was just finding it interesting to read anything and everything. He’d just randomly hold his hand up and ask for something interesting to read and it he was lucky it would fly into his hand. If not it would hit him in the face.

After a while he considered looking up a book about empaths so he could figure out how to use his powers. However that lead him to questioning what kind of magic Marcello was into. Like if there was a certain branch or a certain study technique he used. Against his better judgement he looked down at the ring. 

“So… What of Magic did Marcello use?”

Seconds later the biggest book in the entire library started flying at his face. Lance screamed and ducked out of the way as the impossibly large tome hit the back of the chair he was sitting on and fell open. Silently hoping that he wouldn’t suddenly get hit with another book, Lance picked up the book and sat down to read it. Needless to say he died a little inside when he read the first word.

_Necromancy is traditionally the practice of communicating with the dead in order to predict the future. In more modern times it has expanded to many different practices that involve dead bodies. There are several branches of necromancy because of this. _

_Many people that start down the path of a necromancer do so with the idea that they will transcend and become a Litch (also spelt lich, lych). This is unfortunate, but many who go down this path will not become a Litch. They will still live and die like all individuals. True necromancers will accept this and continue to study the craft anyway. Lesser magic users will find another path to follow._

_Necromancers are considered one of the most dangerous types of magic users in existence. This is generally because they do not fear death and if you send an army after them and they kill said army, the necromancer has gained an army while you have just lost an army. Higher tier necromancers are able to perform much more elaborate and dangerous types of magic._

_Some of the most extreme forms of necromancy make it extremely difficult for a Necromancer to actually die and stay dead. If they are not strong enough to become a Litch, they can use magic to slow down arterial bleeding, and in some extreme cases reattach limbs and even attach their souls to different objects._

_In 1496 one extremely powerful necromancer by the name Edith Leofwin mastered the art of blood manipulation both in and out of the body. When in the body the body could be jerked around like a puppet, but when out of the body it can become an extremely terrifying force. Edith mainly used this power once several people had died as it was the most effective. No one else has been able to master this ability as well as she has._

_Necromancers should be approached with caution. They are one of the most dangerous magic users in the known in existence. They are are not to be trifled with or to be underestimated._

“... So, Marcello was a Necromancer? Well shit.”

He had no idea if that was true or not, but it seemed like something his uncle would do. He had no idea why it just did. But if he was a Necromancer wouldn’t he be hard to kill? But he just instantly died when Shiro strangled him. That didn’t seem like something that would happen to a powerful Necromancer, but what did he know? He wasn’t a very good warlock.

“... Can I have a book on how to use my empathy powers?”

A book much smaller than the other one that almost killed him before flew at him and he managed to catch it. He easily found the chapter dealing with empaths.

_The title of Empaths is usually given to magic users who are able to use their emotions to cast magic. In general, this means that the stronger the emotion behind a spell the more powerful it will be. Unless the spell requires a specific emotion any strong emotion will do._

_To help unlock their powers Empaths will generally memorise phrases, poems, or songs that help evoke emotions. Many find it easier to draw emotion from emotionally charged songs. Many find church hymns and nursery rhymes from their childhood to work in their favour. Though all Empaths are different and should seek out the method that works best for them._

_Many Empaths first discover their link to the world of magic when they come into contact with objects of power. These are generally objects that have a strong human attachment to them that gives said objects a mild supernatural presence. These are different to relics and magic objects as relics/magic objects are either infused with magic or has the soul of a demon/celestial being infused in it. Some empaths use objects of power to help focus and train their skills to become better witches/warlocks/ect._

_While an Empath’s magic might seem weak and sporadic to most people it is important to note that extremely powerful Empaths do exist and should not be angered at any cost. To do so is to flirt with death, because depending on what someone had sone to wronged them death can either be swift or drawn out over years._

Lance closed the book and thought for a moment about all this. The only object of power he knew was Adam, and Shiro would probably be pissed if he used it like that. He could still at least try. He seemed like the most rational out of the two demons living on the estate.

With a slight sigh, Lance exited the library and went to search for Shiro. He found the older man in his Manticore form in the room he and Keith had claimed as theirs. He hesitantly knocked on the door frame. “Hey Shiro. Can I talk to you for a bit?”

Shiro looked up at Lance and tossed a pillow in his direction. “Sure. Take a seat. Make yourself comfortable.”

Lance nodded, fluffed up the pillow and sat across from Shiro. “So… Where is Keith?”

Shiro shrugged and crossed his front paws. “Possibly playing that video game thing with Pidge. He’s really taken with it, even if he is pretty bad at it. I’m glad he’s found human things he likes.” As he talked Lance could see Adam was once again wrapped in cloth, rope and secured around Shiro’s neck.

“Yeah, me too… So um… I kind of have a favour to ask you… If you don’t mind…”

“Oh?”

Lance nervously glanced down at Adam. “I um… I was wondering if I could possibly borrow Adam. Like, he’s technically an object of power and I read that objects of power can help an Empath like me improve my magic skills. Like, if you don’t want to let me borrow him I totally understand. He’s really, really important to you so I get it… Just thought I would ask…”

Shiro growled a little at Lance’s request. “I am glad you understand why that I would deny your request and I am sorry to inform you that I will be denying your request. I’m not going to let anyone touch or move Adam around without asking.”

“Fair. That’s why I asked.”

“... Why don’t you borrow Keith’s knife?”

“His knife?”

Shiro nodded. “It’s a very special knife. His sar gave it to him before he and his dar left… Although Keith is bitter about what she did, he really cares for that knife. Haven’t you noticed he always has it with him?”

“Oh yeah… I guess I could ask?”

Shiro nodded and moved ever so slightly so Adam was closer to his paws. “Good.”

Noting the sudden and potentially dangerous shift in the room Lance quickly exited and made not never to ask to take Adam from Shiro unless he had to. He made his way down to the lounge room where Pidge was trying to teach Keith how to get good at Mortal Kombat.

“No! Block it! Block it! Parry! That’s not fucking parrying!”

“Video games are hard!” Whined Keith. “What am I supposed to hit? X? B? A?”

“BLOCK!” Seconds later Keith’s character was dead and Pidge took the controller out of his hand. “My turn bitch.” Keith pouted and watched the TV as Pidge started her fight.

Lance walked over to them. “Hey Keith, can I ask you something?”

Keith didn’t take his eyes away from the screen. “Yeah? What?”

“... Can I touch your knife?”

That drew his attention away from the TV. “What?”

“I um… I’m working on a theory that it might be an object of power or something.” Said Lance in a defensive manner. “Just let me poke it. No harm in that right?”

Keith seemed a little reluctant but eventually removed it and held it out for Lance. “Here. Don’t mess it up with your grubby human hands.”

“That’s racist.”

“Humans are a surprisingly filthy species.”

“Says the demon that eats people and gets all bloody and gunk.”

Keith rolled his eyes. “Just poke the damn knife.”

Lance shook his head and put his hand on the knife. He didn’t expect to feel anything from it, but he instantly got a rush of emotions. Many happy, some sad, but through it all he felt safe and warm. Like he was being held in someone’s arms. It was much more clear and less chaotic than when he touched Adam’s skull.

Sure there was a bit of a haze, but he could easily focus and see through it. He saw a woman sitting by candlelight in a rocking chair. It looked like Krolia, but she was younger. Maybe in her early twenties? Either way she looked content to gently coo and sing to the tiny baby she had swaddled up in her arms;

_I’ll protect you from the night;_  
_It will never fall._  
_I’ll protect you from the truth;_  
_You won’t hear it at all._  
_You are the center of my universe._  
_I’m whole with you._  
_You’re whole with me._  
_There’s something here,_  
_For us to be._  
_In this whole world,_  
_With our lonely lives,_  
_Nothing can conquer_  
_Our whole love tonight..._

Suddenly he was back in the lounge room. Both Pidge and Keith were giving him weird looks. He quickly touched his face and found that he was in fact crying again. Was he just going to cry every time he touched something like that now? Even when the emotions he was feeling was happy?

“Is it that bad?” Asked Keith in an almost disappointed manner. He sighed heavily and quickly put the knife away. “Figures… My sar-” 

“No!” Said Lance quickly. He grabbed hold of Keith’s arm and shook his head vigorously. “No, no, no, no, no. Not bad at all. Completely the opposite of bad. Good. Very good… Keith, your sar, she really loves you, okay? She really, really does… I gotta go and call my mum now…” He was a little too overwhelmed with motherly affection right now and he needed to give his mama a call.


	17. Marcello's diary

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A chapter where we find out a little bit more about Marcello's life and what stuff he used to do... Plus Lance and Keith get a little closer with some unexpected consequences. Kudos and comment when you can. I always enjoy reading and responding to what you guys have to say :D

Keith was very confused by Lance’s words. Before he could ask him for any clarification the man had bolted out of the room like someone had lit has ass on fire. It really confused him. He looked down at the knife and turned it over in his hands and frowned. His sar… His sar liked him? Loved him? She sure had a funny way of showing it.

He watched Pidge play Mortal Kombat for a few more minutes before he got bored and decided to look around the place a little more. The house was deceptively huge. He didn’t know if the house was charmed to be bigger on the inside, but it was. There were just dozens upon dozens of rooms. 

Keith wandered into a small room that looked like it was used for storage. Lost of boxes full of things. Keith was very nosey and might have wanted to sit inside one of the boxes if there wasn’t a lot of stuff inside it. He pushed opened up one of boxes that felt kind of light and easy to move around.

Inside were a few books. That kind of disappointed him a little considering he couldn’t read English. Maybe there would be some pictures inside it or something? That would make things easier for him. Much to his surprise it was written in infernal. Which was good. It meant he could actually read the damn thing.

He sat down and flipped through the pages. This was hand written. It looked like a diary of some sort. In fact, it was. It was an old diary of Marcello’s. It was completely filled and looked very tattered and dogeared.

Would this be an invasion of privacy if he read it? Maybe, if the guy was still alive. But now that he was dead, what did it matter? If Keith was honest with himself, he was a little curious about the man he had only met once. He was just so strange and weird it did leave an impression on him. He opened the diary to a random page and started reading the entry.

***

A group of fairies had reached out to Marcello and had asked for his assistance. A group of witches had encroached on their homelands without the decency to even ask for permission first. When they had tried to make contact the witches had responded with killing them. The queen of these fairy folk had come personally to ask for his assistance.

Marcello, being a gentleman, not wanting to disappoint a lady, and not wanting to see a group of people die for no reason happily accepted their request. “Of course your majesty.” He said with a bow. “I will leave immediately to take care of this problem. We can discuss payment after I deal with your unfortunate and unwanted witch infestation.”

So he went to the forest and was pointed in the direction of the witches. He easily found the weird hooded folk milling around a stone with a huge crack in it. It didn’t take a genius to figure out that this was probably a very old unused crack between worlds. The thing demons would use to visit the human world when not summoned.

It was a little annoying to know that there was one of these around here, but he would ask the fairies about this later. He’d try to deal with this diplomatically but he wasn’t above a quick culling.

He ran his fingers through his hair and straightened out his suit once more before he walked into the open to make himself known to them all. “Hello witches.” He said. “And what might you be doing on this fine ni-” He quickly reached out and grabbed hold of a blade that one of them had thrown at him. “Now that wasn’t very nice. Was it?”

“Who are you?” Growled a woman. From the way her robes were different, more elaborate than the others, Marcello knew she was the leader of this group. Maybe not the number one in charge, but she out ranked everyone else. “What reason do you have to be here?”

Marcello smiled at her. “Ah, well my name is Marcello McClain. I’m just a warlock out for an evening stroll. The fairy queen that lives in this forest suggested I come this way. We’re kind of tight like that.”

“A warlock?” Asked the woman in an almost condescending manner. “Couldn’t hack it in a coven so you’re doing it on your own? Weak. Pathetic. Just get out of here. This does not concern you.”

Marcello raised an eyebrow and leaned against a tree. “Oh really? I think this very much does concern me, and not just because of the huge fairy orgy I’m no doubt going to get as a reward for helping out the queen. Seriously fairies are damn nymphomaniacs the lot of them. But I digress that there, that rock? That’s a crack… And I am mildly curious as to what you think you’re going to do with it. Looks a little… suspicious…”

The woman just rolled her eyes and gestured for one of her flock to do something. “We’re done talking.”

Out of the corner of Marcello’s eye he could see one of them raise their hand, like they were going to cast a spell on him. Without batting an eye Marcello quickly sliced their hand through the air. Instantly the person who raised their hand froze and shuddered. The right side of their body fell forward while the left side fell backwards.

The witches froze in stunned silence while Marcello just smiled at them and cracked his knuckles. “Okay you naughty witches. You going to tell daddy what bad things you’ve done or is daddy going to have to use his hand to split you in two too?”

“KILL HIM!” Screeched the woman.

Marcello just laughed. “Damn don’t come at me all at once. I only have so many hands.” 

He hardly had to put in any effort to avoid their attacks or into his attacks for that matter. Witches, while powerful at a distance were not always the most physically strong. He just needed to close the distance to evicorate them.

Before he knew it, he’d left the coven dead all around him. Though he was pretty sure that a large number of them were bleeding out around him. They just didn’t make witches like they used to these days.

The only one left alive was the woman leading this group. She looked absolutely terrified of him. “D-demon! You’re not a warlock! You’re a fucking demon!”

Hearing that made Marcello laugh, a proper belly laugh. “What me? A demon? No, no, no. I’m just the humble warlock; Marcello McClain… Now my dear, I have a question for you. How many things have died here?”

“Wh-what?”

Marcello grinned. “How many people have died here. This is a forest and always has been, so dozens of things must have died here and not just the witches you set on me, which I take extreme offence to. What do you think? Thousands? Millions? What about just today? I know there are wolves in this area. Lots of dead things around here.”

She glared at him and he felt a heavy force hit him square in the chest, knocking him back a few feet, but he didn’t fall over. He somehow managed to keep his footing. He was winded, but was still grinning. She did not seem to like this at all.

Her frustrated expression just made Marcello laugh. “Well, that was very naughty. Does daddy have to bend you over and spank you?”

“Fucking die already you disgusting freak!”

“Well you never answered my question.” Said Marcello. “How many things have died here? I think we should find out.” They sharply twisted his hands and fingers in what would generally be considered painful and potentially joint breaking. 

He muttered somethings under his breath as the recently slaughtered witch bodies started to pull together along with any half decomposed animal bodies and bones. The flesh and bone forced themselves together. Ligament snapped and muscles detached. The bodies broke apart and reattached until it formed a ten foot tall abomination.

Marcello kist grinned at what he made and gave it a few pats. “Hmm, let’s see… One, two, skip a few… ninety nine… A lot. There are a lot of dead things here.”

The woman swore. “You’re… You’re a necromancer?!”

“Damn fucking right bitch.” Said Marcello with a smirk. “I’m one of the most powerful warlock Necromancer this side of the Mississippi. Now stop acting like a stuck up little slut and tell daddy what you’re planning to do with that crack. Or do I have to split your naughty ass in two, or do I have to get my new undead pet to do it?” 

“You misogynistic, racist, perverted bastard!” She screeched. She looked terrified, like all her options had completely run out and all she had left was insults.

It made Marcello laugh. “You know, in any other circumstances you might be correct. Apart from a few very important details; one, my current boss is a woman, two, I was a chick for three months after doing a gender equivalency exchange spell with a transgender male so they could have a penis, three, I hate idiots with a passion not groups of people born with certain genetic features, four, No one alive will ever satisfy me sexually, and finally that’s Mr Bastard to you.”

The witch gulped and quickly muttered something under her breath. In an instant the witch was gone and Marcello was alone with the abomination he created. With a shrug he tethered the abomination to the crack as its undead guardian. With that in place, he returned to the fairy queen to let her know that the job was done.

“Thank you so much for your assistance Marcello.” She said with a smile.

Marcello smiled and shrugged. “It was nothing your highness. I would never think of turning down such a beautiful woman in need of my assistance.” His words made some of those standing in the courtroom chuckle. That just made him grin. “That invitation extends to pretty much everyone present in this room. Male or female.” He nodded at some of the people in the courtroom. “Ladies. Gentleman.”

The queen chuckled and stood up from her throne. “Come with me. We’ll be more than happy to reward you all night long if you can handle it.”

“My dear, you underestimate me.”

***

Thankfully that was where the writing stopped and Marcello didn’t go into graphic detail about a damn fairy orgy. Keith wondered what to do with the book for a few minutes before deciding that it might be best to give it to Lance. It was his relative after all.

He walked to Lance’s room and went to knock on it but when he realised that it was slightly ajar he cautiously peeked in. Lance was facing away from the door, hunched over on the bed. He had a box of tissues next to him, some of them crumpled up and scattered around him. Which honestly made Keith inwardly cringe and rethink going in to talk to him. That was until he heard Lance sob. He grabbed another tissue, blew his nose, and tossed it away with the other tissues.

Lance was… Lance was sad? 

Keith frowned a little and went inside. “Lance? Are you okay?”

Lance jumped a little in surprise. His eyes had gone all red and puffy and he had tear streaks down his cheeks. He’d obviously been crying and that concerned Keith a lot. Mainly because he was shit at comforting people and didn’t know how to make people feel better.

“... Did something happen?”

Lance shook his head and sighed. “No… I just… I miss my mama. I just called her up and caught up with her. She’s doing really well and things are looking up for her, pop-pop, and all my siblings and it made me realise something.”

“What?”

“I’m not going to be able to tell them about any of this.” Said Lance quietly. “All this magic shit, I can’t tell them about it.”

“Why not?” Asked Keith. “What’s the worst that could happen?”

“They think I’m crazy or they call a priest to try and exorcise me.” Muttered Lance.

Keith nodded a little and sat by him. He didn’t realise other humans might think so poorly of their own packs. “Really?”

“Yeah… My family is kind of Catholic.”

“Catholic?”

“Yeah, it’s a branch of Christianity.”

“... Christianity?”

Lance gave him a confused look. “You’re a demon. How can you not know what Christianity is?”

Keith shrugged. “Humans make up all kinds of weird stories to explain how the world works. But anyway, Catholics. What does that have to do with magic or anything like that?”

“... Um, Catholics are kind really hate witchcraft, demons and all that kind of stuff. So I would be seen as evil in their eyes.”

“But you’re not evil?” Keith just didn’t understand this human way of thinking. He leaned closer to Lance and sniffed him. “You smell okay. Not evil or consumed by sin or anything. You’re a good person… But if you like I could purify you?”

“... Purify me?”

“Yeah. I’m a sin-eater. It’s what I do. I eat those beyond saving and purify those that can be saved.” Said Keith. “I was going to purify you when we first met. I had thought that’s why you summoned me in the first place… Then you kicked me dick, broke my nose, and locked me in a room.”

Lance pouted. “To be fair you were a naked demon and I assumed you were going to try and fuck me.”

“... Considering you called me a sex demon I kind of figured that. So is that a yes or no?”

Lance looked at him hesitantly. “Are you going to eat me or something?”

Keith frowned and sniffed him again. “Nah. You won’t need to give me your flesh and blood to purify yourself… I’ll just take your breath.”

“... Okay? And how would you do that?” Asked Lance.

Keith shrugged and made himself comfortable on the bed. “Well I’d just need to put my mouth over yours and suck the air out of your lungs till I’ve taken in all your sin.”

A slight blush covered Lance’s face. “Oh… I see… So um, what would happen if you did that? Would I suddenly change and be all good and pure?”

“I said I’d take your sin not destroy your personality… So is that a yes or a no?”

Lance thought about it for a bit before he nodded. “Yeah… I feel like absolute shit. This might actually make me feel a little better. So what do you want me to do?”

“Just lie back. It’ll be easier on your body.”

Lance did what he was told and once he was on his back Keith climbed on top of him so he was straddling his hips. He looked down at him and was mildly amused by the embarrassed look on Lance’s face. He placed his hands on Lance’s chest and took a moment to take it all in. The boy under him was quite adorable.

“Um… Keith?”

“Yeah?”

“... N-never mind. Just do it already.”

“Okay… Just a little warning though, There is a chance you could possibly blackout a little. Maybe get dizzy. It can get pretty intense.”

“You’ve done this before, right?”

“Yeah. I’ve been summoned by a few witches before.” He very carefully placed his hands on the sides of Lance’s neck, brushing a thumb over his Adam’s apple. “I know what I’m doing.”

“Really? It kind of looks like you’re about to choke me…” Lance laughed nervously.

Keith shrugged. “It’s just to help me keep your head still. Just hold still and trust me. You do trust me, right?”

“Well yeah I guess.” Said Lance. “Like you’ve only threatened to hurt me after I attacked you… And you trusted me enough to help find Shiro. I trust you to do what you’re meant to do.”

“Thank you.” He leaned forward and gently kissed Lance. He felt Lance freeze up a little under him, but Keith just ignored that and pushed his tongue into his mouth. He didn’t do anything for a few seconds while Lance relaxed and got used to this new sensation. Then when he felt that Lance was comfortable Keith inhaled deeply, sucking the oxygen right out of his lungs.

It didn’t take more than a few seconds before he felt Lance’s hands on his arms. Nails clawing, digging into his skin. Every time he sucked in any air through his nose Keith would suck it right out of him before it even reached his lungs. 

Keith could taste the sin slowly leaving Lance’s body. The rich decadent flavours of gluttony, the buttery hints of sloth, bitter notes envy, sour tones greed, the gamy taste of wrath, the sweet melting tastes of lust, and the overwhelming umami flavours of pride that overwhelmed the other flavours. It wasn’t the kind of sin that he liked to eat, but it was nice enough.

After a few moments of savouring the flavours of Lance’s sins, he felt the man’s grip on his arms start to go limp. Seconds later Keith couldn’t taste anything anymore and he moved back to let Lance breathe. He gasped and started coughing. Once again Lance’s eyes were moistened with tears and for a moment Keith questioned if he had done the right thing.

“Are you okay?” Asked Keith quietly. “You’re not overwhelmed are you or anything?”

Lance sat up and coughed a little more and nodded. “Y-yeah… I… I didn’t really expect to almost suffocate.”

Keith shrugged. “Sorry… But it was a little hard to get your sin since you didn’t have that much to begin with… Do you feel a little better?”

For a few seconds Lance just sat there and breathed deeply. “... Actually, yeah? That actually worked? Thanks.”

Keith smiled a little. He was glad Lance was happy, and that he didn’t screw up. It was kind of weird. He sort of felt like he was floating, in fact he was floating. He was hovering about an inch off the bed and slowly getting higher.

“Lance! Put me down!” He yelped. Sure he was a demon but he didn’t fly or float. This was very much not good for him. He was floating higher. “Fuck!”

To his credit Lance did quickly pulled him back down, but Keith ended up floating like a buoy in the water just above his bed. “... Is this normal?”

“No it’s fucking not!” Whined Keith. “Put me down!”

“I’m not doing this to you!”

“... Take me to Shiro.”

“How?”

“I don’t know! Grab my hand and drag me or something!”

“Okay, okay, fine!” Lance grabbed Keith by the wrist and quickly moved to their shared bedroom and opened the door. “Shiro! We need help!”

Shiro jolted up and instinctively lashed out with his paw before he realised where he was. “... Oh. Sorry. Don’t startle me like that… Why is Keith floating?”

“This is what we need help with.” Said Lance. “He just started floating!”

“I do not like this one fucking bit!” Snapped Keith. “Get me down from here!”

Shiro looked very confused for a moment as he tried to pull himself out of his nap. “Huh… Okay. What were you doing before hand?”

“I ate Lance’s sin.” Said Keith. “That’s it. Now I’m floating! Help!”

Shiro nodded a little and thought for a few minutes. “Akira did say there can be some funny side effects when your kind feeds from Empaths… Since Lance is an Empath you’re probably just experiencing the side effects of feeding off an Empath. It’ll be fine in a few minutes… You didn’t eat much sin did you?”

“Lance hardly had any si-” Before he could finish that sentence he fell out of the air and hit the ground. “Ow…”

“And you’re back to normal.” Shiro yawned and curled back up again. “Okay. I think we should all go to bed now and relax a bit. You’ll all feel better once you’ve had a good night’s sleep.”

Keith grumbled and slinked over to Shiro, quickly wedging himself under one of the Manticore’s paws. “Yeah, yeah… Night Lance.”

“Night guys. See you in the morning.”

Lance quickly left the room, closing the door behind him. Keith could swear he saw Lance blush a little and brush his fingers over his lips. It kind of worried Keith a little. Did he hurt Lance by accident? It’s not like he meant to do it. But what if he did and now he didn’t trust him anymore? But he said that he was okay? He didn’t understand humans at all.

He felt Shiro press his head down against his and nuzzled him. “You okay there Keith?”

Keith sighed and nuzzled him back. “I don’t know… I think I messed Lance up by eating his sin… I just wanted to make him feel better.”

“How did you do it?”

“The way I usually do it when people have a small amount of sin. I take their breath away.”

Shiro chuckled. “Ah, I see… Well I wouldn’t worry about it.”

Keith gave him a very skeptical look. “What?”

“Nothing. Just get some sleep Keith.”

“No, you tell me what you mean!”

Shiro ignored him, shifted his weight and effectively pinned Keith under him. “Time for talk it over. “Sleep now. No more talking.”

Keith whined and squirmed under him for a few minutes. “Shiro! Get off me you fat lion fuck! Tell me what you mean!”

“Nope. Sleep now.” He put his paw over Keith’s face to muffle his angry screams and happily went to sleep. Keith was not amused.


	18. Shopping trip

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lance talks more with the Marmora people and Keith gets some video games :P
> 
> Kudos and comment when you can. Enjoy :D

It all started with a knock at the door one morning. Lance didn’t really want to answer it, but he had to. He didn’t even feel the least bit surprised when Kolivan, Antok, and Krolia were there. They of course asked to come in but Lance stood his ground.

“Okay, no.” He said. “I have to set some ground rules. Firstly, no magic stuff. Like at all. Also, I found the Manticore but we have a blood contract, so leave him alone. Also, whatever you have to say you can say in front of anyone in this house. If you can’t do that then go. Leave. Get off my property.”

The trio seemed amused by Lance’s demands but happily accepted it and entered the house. They sat down in the parlor and Lance immediately felt uncomfortable. Hunk and Pidge had early classes today and were here. Shiro and Keith were probably off doing demon things somewhere in the house, so he was all alone… With three people that didn’t actually have to follow his house rules. He was so fucked.

“How have you been going?” Asked Kolivan. “Have you got an understanding of magic now? You have made a blood contract with a Manticore after all. That’s no easy feet.”

Lance didn’t know if he should mention that Shiro willingly did this, so he just nodded. “I guess…”

“How is Keith?” Asked Krolia. “Is he doing well?”

“Yeah.” Said Lance. “He’s happy now that Shiro’s back… I still have no idea how to send him back, so now I have to look after him and Shiro, so that’s a little difficult.” She seemed happy with that answer.

Kolivan cleared his throat. “So, you’re technically the summoner of two demons? That is impressive. You have a lot of potential as a warlock.”

Lance nodded a little. “I guess… So um… Did you guys know that Marcello was murdered?”

The mood in the room suddenly became solemn. The trio nodded and Kolivan cleared his throat. “He had informed us that he was going to die and he was pretty sure he was going to get murdered. We did ask him if there was any way we could change it so he wouldn’t die, but he said that since he saw it, it was set in stone. We just helped him make arrangements.”

“I see…” Lance nervously shifted in his seat. “Shiro, he’s the manticore, was told to kill Marcello because Haggar forced him into a blood contract… Long story short she wants Marcello’s ring and the deed to the house. I can understand the ring but why the house?”

That seemed to worry the trio. “You mean you don’t know?” Asked Antok. “You really don’t know?”

“... This is going to be one of those things that I absolutely hate, isn’t it?” Mumbled Lance. “Okay, lay it on me. What is it?”

“The McClain estate was built on top of the largest crack in the Northern Hemisphere.” Said Kolivan. “There are two others in existence; one in Jerusalem protected since its discovery by a group of Rabies through continuous prayers and chants, and the other is the Mariana Trench.”

Lance blinked. “You mean it’s in the trench, right?”

“No. It is the entire trench.” Confirmed Kolivan. “However the water pressure along with where it is located within the other realm makes it practically impossible for anything particularly malevolent to get through… Haggar is the one in charge of the Daibazaal coven. For generations they have been attempting to locate the third crack and make it their own. They can use it for more than just summoning demons. It can be used to start armageddon.”

“... Like the end of the world?”

“Yes.” Said Antok. “It was long ago agreed that we as witches should never under any circumstances go and try to use a crack for their own gain.” He explained. “Small cracks are pretty difficult to deal with and any time a coven has tried to use a crack in the past it has exploded and caused small outbreaks.”

“... What kind of outbreaks?” Lance knew he wasn’t going to like the answer.

“Small demonic infestations.” Said Kolivan calmly. “It can either manifest itself as a physical being or something akin to a fungus. We haven’t had to deal with a crack exploding in centuries.”

Lance nodded a little. “Oh! Shiro said that there was a crack on his property that he came through, is that one one you’re talking about?”

Krolia shook her head. “No. That’s just a small crack. The large one is part of the foundation of the house. This house is literally sitting on the mouth of hell.”

“...” Lance was right, he did not like this one bit. “Fun… Perfect… Brilliant… What am I meant to do now?”

Kolivan took out the contract again and handed it to Lance. “We want you to sign this. Please read through it. This is a contract stating that we will pay you to store items for us here and in return we will be more than willing to help you when you need it.”

“So blackmail?”

Kolivan shook his head. “No. We will be offering the same thing to you because this is so much more than just you.” He frowned as he thought. “Lance, this is just a formality thing that will give us permission to us to enter your property to take care of any situation that you might not be capable of handling. Magic is extremely finicky when you don’t know the rules… We do not want the world to just suddenly end because of Haggar doing something stupid.”

“Fair enough I guess?” Lance didn’t really know what to think about it. “So this is just you guys wanting to come here and help out with demon stuff because I am living on top of this hell mouth?”

“Pretty much.”

Lance groaned and buried his face in his hands. He was living on top of a hell mouth and had no idea if it was safe or not to do so. They didn’t seem too worried about him living there, just Haggar being there. It made him want to scream in frustration. This shitty house was just throwing more and more curveballs at him instead.

As he was contemplating throwing himself out the window, Keith poked his head into the parlor. “Hey, so what button do I need to push to change the TV so I can play Mortal Kombat… Oh… You’re here…”

Krolia went to stand up, but quickly stopped herself. She just nodded at him and smiled slightly. “Hello Keith. I am glad to see that you are well.”

He nodded a little and looked over at Kolivan and Antok. “Hi.” Antok grunted and Kolivan nodded. “Um… Can I speak to you for a second Lance? Out in the hallway?”

Lance nodded and quickly followed Keith out into the hallway. “Yeah?”

He didn’t look happy. “Why are they here?” He growled.

“Well apparently the house is built on the mouth of hell, so yeah. Now I have to deal with that.” 

Keith seemed surprised. “Really? Okay, fair enough I guess? … I didn’t know this place was built on a hell mouth… Marcello was crazy.”

“Tell me about it… So is there something you need?”

Keith looked back towards the room where the trio of witches were then back down the hall. “... I still need help with the TV…”

Lance nodded and quickly poked his head back in to speak with the witches. “I’ll be back in a minute. Just helping Keith out with something out in the other room.” They simply nodded and Lance went with Keith to change the TV over so he could play video games. “... So are you only interested in these kinds of fighting games? There are all kinds of games out there you know.”

“Like what?”

Lance shrugged. “Fighting games, simulator games, god games, adventure games. That kind of stuff… Why don’t we go down to the game’s shop and we’ll get you something you like? I am kind of rich as fuck.”

Keith was surprised to hear him say that but smiled and nodded. “Okay. Cool. When you’re done talking with them, come and get me?”

“Sure thing.” He handed the controller over to Keith and left the room. “Enjoy your game.” He walked back to where Kolivan and the others were but paused when he heard them talking. Specifically about him.

“Two demons.” Muttered Antok. “Two bloody demons. He’s practically a novice and he’s meant to be giving orders to two demons? They’ll rip him apart. Take advantage of him. Heck, he’s going to think all demons are nice and end up getting himself killed because he’s an idiot.”

“Give him some credit.” Snapped Krolia. “He’s a novice, but he isn’t stupid. He’s just a young man trying to live his life and magic wasn’t part of the plan… But isn’t it a good thing he doesn’t know how to dismiss a demon yet? It gives him a little bit of protection.”

“... Keith isn’t as good a fighter as you think he is.” Said Antok. “You don’t even know how good he is at fighting… And Haggar is a complete bitch. Remember what Marcellow used to call her when they happened to pop up?”

“He had many names for her.” Said Kolivan. “What one are you referring to?”

“All of them.” Said Antok. “The wicked bitch of the West, saggy tits, the crypt keepers mother-in law, the screaming she bitch, la puta… Stuff like that.”

Kolivan groaned. “Marcello never could learn to shut his damn mouth…”

Lance chose that moment to walk into the room. “Hey.”

“Ah you’re back.” Said Kolivan. “Is everything okay?”

“Yeah. It’s all good.” Lance looked over the contract again. “... Okay. I guess I can sign this… Pen?” Kolivan produced a pen for him and Lance signed the contract. Once it was done, Kolivan looked over it, handed it over to Antok to look at. “Is it all good?”

“It’s all in order.” Said Kolivan. “If you ever need any assistance we will help you out. You can just call or pop by the office.”

Lance nodded and walked the trio to the front door. Kolivand and Antok went straight to the car while Krolia hung back. “He Lance, serious question. Is Keith doing okay?”

“Yeah, he’s doing fine.” Said Lance. “He um… He’s still angry and kind of weird, but that’s just him I guess? He’s really calmed down since he found Shiro again… Um, is it normal for demons to sleep in piles? Like dogs?”

Krolia nodded. “Yeah. Sleeping together like that builds bonds between demons. My guess is you find it a little weird?”

Lance shrugged. “Well… I to be fair I was kind of a little worried Shiro would roll over and crush Keith to death in his sleep considering how huge he is… But if he’s good with it I don’t mind. No problem. I’m just trying to find out more about demons.”

“That;s good… Take good care of him for me.”

“I will. Don’t worry.”

She gave him a small smile and quickly left with Kolivan and Antok.

***

Keith was excited. He hadn’t been to any human stores before. Well, not unless he was hunting. It was kind of fun. He liked being able to just look around at all the things. When he’d been in large human groups it was always so he could hunt. He’d never taken much of a chance to explore. It made him happy, though he did kind of want Shiro to come with them. The older demon just shrugged and said he wanted to curl up in a sunny spot and sleep. The traitor.

But he was having fun with Lance, even if he wouldn’t shut up. Lance had taken him to a game shop and was talking him through all the different kinds of games that were there. Talking about platforming games, fighting games, zombie games… and then he showed Keith DOOM.

“This one is pretty fun.” Lance said as he took it off the shelf. “You play as this soldier, DOOM guy, and you basically shoot and kill a bunch of demons on Mars.”

“... Lance?”

“Yeah?”

“I’m a demon.”

“... Um, well in pretty much almost every other game where you have guns you can murder humans?”

“... I find that game offensive.”

Lance shook his head. “Damn, this is the Resident Evil five contraversy all over again…”

“The what?”

Lance let out a dramatic sigh. “Okay, long story short, the game is set in Africa. Like we’re talking no what people. Like just Africans that have lived there and all their ancestors have lived there, right? So it makes sense that all the zombies there are African, right? Well people were calling it racist and they ended up putting people of various shades of brown in there which didn’t really make much sense from a basic story stand point but whatever.”

“... Huh?” Now Keith was confused. “But zombies are really weak and kind of… Why would they even be an enemy in a video game?”

“Because they are scary?”

“But they aren’t?” Keith didn’t understand why zombies were scary. They weren’t scary. They were dumb and kind of just walked into things all the time. Humans were way too easy to kill if they were afraid of zombies. “I once tried to convince my dar to let me keep a little zombie girl.”

“... Like a pet?”

“Yeah… Of course he said no and I had to put her back where I found her.” Said Keith sadly. “Our skin is thick and she wouldn’t have been able to bite me… Well she did bite me, but it’s not like anything would happen… Had to put her back with the rest of the hoard.”

“... I am scared of your kind.”

“As you should be.” Keith continued to look through the games. “Anything like Mortal Kombat?”

Lance continued to look with him. “Um… Tekken is kind of similar? Maybe Smash Bros? Street fighter? Dead or alive? Injustice is pretty fun… Oh! Skullgirls! Pidge has been looking for this.” He quickly grabbed the game off the shelf and grinned. “I’m gonna get this.”

“Okay.” Keith also picked a few games off the shelf and held them up to Lance. “Are these good?”

Lance looked over the games with much scrutiny. “... Yeah these are good. You sure you want to get Yoshi’s woolly world?”

“... You expect me to just go after the blood and guts stuff?” Asked Keith. “That’s racist.”

Lance pouted. “Okay fine. We’ll get whatever games you want. Don’t care.”

“Good… So what now? Do we just leave?”

“We have to buy it first.” Said Lance. “Don’t you have shops in hell?” He walked over to where other people were lining up and Keith quickly joined him.

“Well no. it’s always been a take what you can get kind of society.” Keith was confused as to why they were standing in a line. “What are we going to do after this?”

“Well we could get food?” Suggested Lance. “Or like you know. A drink. I assume you can drink, right?”

“Yeah. juice would be nice.” They bought their video games and they went to the food court. Lance left Keith at a table while he went to grab himself something to eat and drink. He he came back he put a large juice in front of him. Keith sipped it and noted it tasted like several different fruits. “... Orange, pineapple, and passionfruit?”

Lance grinned. “Awesome. You actually picked them out… So some fruits are okay?”

Keith nodded and continued to sip his juice. “Yeah. Like Shiro mentioned a while ago we can have things that aren’t meat, but we prefer meat. Fruit is nice… My dar would give me some fruit when we would go out hunting.” He smiled a little. “It was nice.”

Lance smiled a little. “Parents are nice like that.”

“Yeah…” Keith played with the strawer in fruit juice. “... I need to get more children’s clothes.”

“... Why?”

“All the clothes I usually wear when I go hunting are covered in blood. I oly have a few clothes left.”

“Do you need to try anything on?”

“Yeah.”

Lance sighed a little and ran his fingers through his hair. “Okay. You have anything you can change into in your bag?”

“Yep.”

Lance seemed a little annoyed but he just nodded. “Okay. Let me finish eating and then we can go to the bathroom so you can change… And you better not try and pull anything like saying I kidnapped you.”

“Buy me decent clothes and I’ll be good.”

***

Lance was not that happy he had to be babysitter to a tiny child Keith, but he did promise that he wouldn’t make too much of a fuss, so there was that. Still, Lance felt a little weird holding Keith’s hand while he wanted to run off and do his own thing. He really was like a child, though he didn’t know if Keith was just acting or he really was a little shit.

He sighed heavily as he tried to see what Keith’s shirt size was and he just whined and tried to walk off. “You say you want clothes but now you act like this? Why?”

“Because I just remembered this is boring and I hate it.”

“Well you’re insufferable and I hate you.” He grabbed the back of Keith’s shirt and read what size it was. “... You want anything specific? Like any colour or pattern? You want something with a puppy?”

“Yeah. Sounds good.” Keith didn’t seem too happy about getting new clothes, like a normal child. Did his brain kind of shrink or something too and that was why he was acting more kid like?

“Come on Keith what colour do you want? If you don’t tell me what colour you want I’ll get you something you hate.”

Keith pouted and glared at the shirts. “... Red. Red or black. Dark colours. Easier to hide the blood if it’s dark…”

Lance nodded and picked out a few shirts and some pants that looked like they would fit. “This good?”

“Yeah. Get me a dress too.”

“Why?”

“It will help when I hunt… Get me a bow too.” Lance sighed and walked with Keith to the girl’s section where he grabbed a nice looking dress. “This one.” He said. “I want this one.”

“You want me to do your hair too?”

“If it will make me look cute then yes.”

Lance shook his head. “Keith, you are one strange child.” They bought the clothes and Lance couldn’t help but feel that he was an accessory to murder, but Keith looked happy. Which was actually kind of cute. After they brought a headband with a bow in it, Lance couldn’t help himself. He put it in Keith’s hair and cooed at how cute he was. Then, Keith promptly bit Lance’s hand for touching his head without permission.


	19. Twice bitten

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> More baby Keith being a little shit, and shit just hitting the fan for Lance in general. Also, Shiro is best brother. Kudos and comment when you can. Enjoy :D

Shiro had been enjoying a nice peaceful nap in the house alone. He did love being around Keith again, but the demon was such a handful sometimes and just always seemed to get into trouble. So it just felt nice for him to lounge around in the nest for a few hours while Lance took Keith to get video games. That was really nice of him. Lance was a nice summoner. He was glad he happened to summon Keith.

Sure Lance was kind of dense when it came to magic, but Shiro knew that he had potential. He was Marcello’s nephew after all. Also, whenever Shiro saw Lance he usually had one of Marcello’s old books from the library with him. If Lance needed any help he wouldn’t mind giving him a hand.

His ears perked up when he heard the front door of the house open and bickering of Lance and a young Keith. He was slightly confused by this and went to investigate what they were arguing about. Suddenly he heard Lance scream and Shiro quickly raced to the lounge room to see Keith in his six year old form attached to Lance’s arm and growling.

“SHIRO!” Cried Lance. “GET YOUR FUCKING LITTERMATE OFF ME!”

Shiro let out a sigh of relief. They were just being stupid. “He don’t bite.” Almost as if to contradict him, Keith bit Lance’s arm.

“YES HE DO!” 

Shiro shook his head and quickly removed Keith from Lance’s arm. “For crying out loud Keith. You need to calm down. Why happened anyway?”

“He tried to put me in a dress!” Snapped Keith.

“I suggested you try it on!” Snapped Lance as he quickly checked his arm for any bite marks. Thankfully for him, Keith didn’t bite to rip flesh just to bruise and scare. “I bought you so many video games and so many kids clothes and this is how you repay me? Biting me?”

“You threatened me!” Snapped Keith. “Be thankful I didn’t bite your dick off!”

“Bold of you to assume I’m a sick enough fuck to let a kid near my dick!” Snapped Lance as he rubbed his bite mark. “Just for that I am confiscating your video games.”

“What?! No!” He tried to squirm out of Shiro’s arms, but the Manticore held him still.

Lance just stormed out of the room. “All these games are going in the safe. You’ll get one back when you have shown you know how to behave.”

“Just one?! You got me seven!”

“Then you better show me you can be a nice person that can behave politely and not bite people because you are mad!” Snapped Lance.

Keith whined and tried to get out of Shiro’s hands. “Let me go damn it! I need to get those games back!”

Shiro shook his head and continued to hold the enraged demon child. “Keith, you don’t need those games. You just want them. You’ve lived thousands of years without them why do you need them now?”

“... Most of them are multiplayer.” Muttered Keith. “And games are fun… And I want to play games with you guys so we could all have fun…”

Shiro was kind of surprised to hear that. “So let me get this straight, you want those video games so that everyone in the house can play and have fun together?”

Keith nodded and stopped struggling. He just seemed defeated. “Yeah… But we can’t do that if Lance locks the games away… Humans don’t play the same games demons do… And now Lance is mad at me because I don’t want to wear a stupid dress now!”

“Why did you get one if you don’t want to wear it?”

“Because the fucking perverts I hunt want to fuck little boys and girls!” He snapped. “I can only look male and hang around those stupid stained glass window buildings and wait for the fucking creeps with the black and white collars for so long before I get tired of eating them!”

“... Well fair enough, but Lance wasn’t in the wrong for asking you to wear the dress to make sure that it fits.” Said Shiro. “You shouldn’t have bit him.”

“I didn’t make him bleed.” Keith pointed out. “I bit him hard enough for it to hurt but that was it… Warning bite…”

Shiro sighed and patted Keith’s head. “It’s okay. Let’s just go and find Lance and then you can apologies.”

“Okay… Should I look more adult?”

“Nah, stay small. Humans tend to find you cuter when you’re like this.” 

Keith nodded in agreement and the two demons walked to the office where Lance was trying to figure out how to work the safe. He seemed to have mastered how to take things out of the safe but not how to put things in. 

He looked up at the demons and tried to move the bag of games away from them. “No.”

“I’m sorry.” Squeaked Keith. “I didn’t mean to bite you… I just didn’t want to wear the dress… It’s for hunting. Not for wearing day to day… It’s a hunting thing!”

Lance looked a little confused, but at least he didn’t look mad. “Okay… Why are you still tiny?”

“It takes energy to get small and then go big again.” Said Keith quietly. “... I want to play some of those games with you… Please?” Keith was all wide eyed and pouty. Shiro tried his best not to laugh at that. Mainly because he was used to seeing Keith use this kind of face when they went hunting. It was cute and very adorable. Perfect for making humans drop their guard.

Lance looked at him for a bit before going back to trying to open the safe. “Nice try Keith. I have several nieces and nephews. Those puppy dog eyes don’t work on me.”

“...” Keith fell face first onto the floor and just stayed there, flat, unmoving, and growled.

Lance looked down at Keith and then up at Shiro. “Um… Is that normal for him?”

“When he’s small? Yeah.” Shiro picked up Keith by his leg. “It takes a lot of energy for him to be this tiny and sometimes he just needs to lie down.”

Keith glared at Shiro and crossed his arms. “Put me down this instant. This is undignified.”

“Oh you want me to drop you on your head or something?” Asked Shiro. “I could do that if you want.”

“HISSSSSSSSSS!!!”

Shiro held Keith as far away from himself as possible. “Okay, out the window you go.” He proceeded to walk to the window next to Lance to drop Keith out of it. Lance immediately tried to block him from doing so. 

“Whoa! No way! Demon or not if the neighbour sees you dropping a kid out the window I’m fucked!”

Shiro shrugged. “He’ll be fine. He used to jump off my back when I could fly to try and jump onto the back of what you would call demon pigs. He’ll be fine.” Keith hissed and squirmed around. “Oh hush you. You know I could drop kick you in the face, off a cliff, and you’d walk away from it like it was nothing.”

“That’s not the point!” Snapped Keith. “Don’t drop the kit!”

“Oh, so now you’re a kit when it suits you?” Asked Shiro.

“... Yes.” He wriggled around and kept trying to Shiro’s grip. “Put the kit down!”

Lance grabbed Keith and tried to hold him steady. “Whoa, easy there Keith. You’re gonna fall and hit your head if Shiro suddenly drops you.”

“Don’t treat me like a kit!” Snapped Keith.

Lance paused for a moment and glared at him. “Shiro, pass Keith to me. I’m going to yeet the little fucker out the window.”

Shiro shrugged and let Keith go. He watched as the two of them fought each other. Lance seemed determined to try and throw Keith out the window and Keith was trying to stay away from his hands. While this was amusing he reached into the bag and grabbed one of the games, quickly hiding it behind his back.

“Okay Keith that’s enough. I think you’ve made your point. Please don’t attack Lance anymore.” Keith huffed and quickly ran out of the room. Shiro just shook his head and gave Lance an apologetic look. “Sorry. He gets weird when he’s small.”

“Yeah. I can tell.” Grumbled Lance. “I need to get a pet carrier to put him in when he’s like that…”

Shiro laughed a little. “Yeah. You do that. I’ll go and make sure he’s okay. Good luck with the safe.” 

Lance grumbled and went back to trying to open it while Shiro went to look for Keith. He found the small demon looking through the fridge for some meat he could eat. Clearly he needed to eat something soon so he wouldn’t need to nap as soon as he changed back to his normal age. But he didn’t look like he was having much luck.

“Need help there?” He asked.

Keith looked over his shoulder and glared at him. “Go away. You tried to drop me out a window.”

“True, but I needed a distraction.” He held the game out to Keith and smiled. “I only managed to grab one, but I hope this is one that you want to play.”

Keith looked surprised and stared at him and the game. “You got that? For me?”

Shiro nodded. “Yeah. It’s important to you and I was pretty sure Lance wasn’t going to give you one of these. You want some help finding something to give you enough energy to change back without passing out?”

“Yeah.”

Shiro smiled and sat Keith up on the counter while he looked through the cupboards. He grabbed a squeezy bottle full of honey. He had taken to watching Hunk cook and asked him questions about what he was cooking and why. So he recently found out that bees make honey and honey is full of sugar and quick energy. Also, honey came from flowers and he and Keith would occasionally eat them if they were around and they needed a sugar hit. So this should help Keith out.

“Okay, open your mouth.” Keith did what he was told and Shiro quickly filled his mouth with honey. “Swallow.”

Keith swallowed and pulled a face. “Ew… Too sweet.”

Shiro shrugged. “Yeah, it’s honey. Bees make it. Humans eat it. Should give you enough energy to change back without passing out.”

“Yeah… My mouth is so dry now.” He muttered.

“Change back and I’ll get you some water.” He turned his back to the little demon and looked through the cupboards for a cup. He found one, filled the cup up in the sink and handed it over to Keith, now back in his adult form. “Here, and put some pants on. You know how touchy humans are about walking around naked.”

Keith rolled his eyes and quickly drank his water. “Yeah, yeah. When I get some pants on do you want to play the game with me?”

“Sure.”

Keith smiled and quickly walked out of the room. Seconds later he heard Lance shrieking. “WHY ARE YOU NAKED AGAIN?!”

“FUCK YOU THAT’S WHY!”

“PUT SOME PANTS ON!”

“I FUCKING AM!”

“NO YOU’RE NO! YOU’RE STANDING THERE SCREAMING AT ME!”

“BECAUSE YOU STARTED IT!”

“FUCK YOU! GO TO HELL!”

“I FUCKING LIVE IN HELL YOU IDIOT!”

Shiro chuckled and shook his head. Keith and Lance were getting along like littermates with a rivalry. It made him happy to know his little brother was getting along so well with someone, even if they were human and not very smart when it came to the way demon’s did things.

Suddenly Lance walked by. He looked a mix between being embarrassed and pissed off. “... Are you okay there Lance?”

“Yeah… I’m just going to pick up Pidge.”

“Oh, okay. Drive safely.”

***

Lance was sitting in the lobby of Daibazaal incorporated or whatever the fuck the place was called and impatiently played with his phone. Where was Pidge? Shouldn’t she be done by now? He sank further into his seat and played some candy crush.

Now that he thought about it, Daibazaal was the name of that other coven, right? Probably a coincidence. Lots of things that meant one thing also meant something else. Hell even Isis was the name of an Egyptian goddess before it got hijacked by a bunch of losers. So there was probably the same thing. Still kind of wild to think about.

Suddenly a looming shadow stood over Lance and he very slowly looked up to see a man with sleek black hair glaring at him. Lance quickly glanced over the man’s uniform and noticed he had a taser. 

“Um… Yes?”

“Are you waiting for someone?” Asked the man.

Lance nodded and quickly sat up straight. “Y-yeah. One of my friends interns here and I was just waiting to pick them up. I’m their ride.”

“Name?”

“Huh?”

“What is your name?” They snapped.

“Wait, why do you need to know my name?”

“Because the work here at Daibazaal is highly confidential and we can’t just have anyone sitting around our buildings without permission. It’s company policy.” They growled. “Now, you gonna tell me your name or do I have to throw you out and have you banned from entering the building?”

This was bullshit. Pidge had said the place was all super secretive and stuff, but this was kind of bullshit. He looked at the name badge on the man’s shirt. Haxus. “So… Let me just see if I got this right; I, a person that does not want to go any further into the building because I am waiting for my friend, I have to give you my name? Do you demand photo ID from the people that refill your water coolers?”

Haxus glared at Lance with pure venom. “You have ten seconds to get the fuck out of here before I-”

“What’s with all the shouting?” Asked an older woman. She wore a dark purple business suit that just screamed elegance and refinement. In one hand she carried a thin briefcase and in the other she carried a coffee. “Haxus, don’t you have anything better to do than bother people in the lobby, or has Sendak finally gotten board or you brown nosing and made you stand around out here?”

Haxus looked like he wanted to snap back at her, but easily composed himself. “I’m just following the orders I was given Mrs Daibazaal.”

Mrs Daibazaal rolled her eyes. “My husband does not pay you to be a nuisance.” She sipped her coffee and frowned. “This is not what I ordered at all…” She shoved the coffee into Haxus’s hands. “Make yourself useful and go down to the coffee shop on the corner. Get me a large triple espresso Americano, one pump of vanilla, two pumps hazelnut, one sugar, no cream if they ask.” Both men just stared at her with stunned expressions on their faces. “Did I stutter?”

“Well no.” Said Haxus. “But this is not my-”

“If you tell me that it is not your job I will very well make it your job.” She hissed. “Now run along, boy. Get me my coffee and bring it to my office immediately. You better hope for the sake of your future employment here at the company that both my husband and I own that it is still hot when you put it on my desk or you will be terminated. Is that clear?”

“... Yes Mrs Daibazaal. Right away Mrs Daibazaal.” Haxus quickly scurried out the door like a scared rat to get the new coffee.

Mrs Daibazaal just huffed in annoyance. “It’s so difficult to get good help these days. Haxus is a right twat…” She looked down at Lance and somehow produced a business card between her fingers and gestured for Lance to take it. “Honerva H. Daibazaal. Co founder and co owner of Daibazaal Industries. What was Haxus bothering you about?”

Lance would be lying if he said he didn’t feel intimidated by this woman. “Oh um… Nothing much. He wanted to know why I was here and who I am.”

“And why are you here?” She asked. “Do you have an appointment with someone? A test subject?”

“One of the interns is my friend and I’m their ride back.” Said Lance quickly. “He wanted me to him my name…”

She nodded a little. “Fair enough I guess, we have started working on some rather confidential pieces… Still, that is no reason for Haxus to act like such an ass… Maybe my coffee run will knock some sense into him…” She sighed and extended her hand out to him. “Well it was still nice to meet you. Hopefully you won’t be bothered by him again. So what was your name?”

Lance smiled a little and shook her hand. “Lance. Lance McClain.”

“...” She nodded a little and lightly turned Lance’s hand. “Oh, that’s an interesting ring. Where did you get it? Looks like something you would get from a medieval fair.”

Lance smiles awkwardly and moved his hand away from her. “Old family heirloom thing. Been in the family for ages… So um, you into jewelry? Like the fancy hand crafted stuff?”

Mrs Daibazaal nodded. “I am. I have always preferred handcrafted pieces to anything manufactured. Guess I’ll just have to start scouring etsy again. Well it was nice meeting you Lance McClain. Maybe we will meet again if you keep coming to pick up your friend?”

Lance shrugged. “Maybe. It was nice meeting you too.”

She smiled and went over to the first security checkpoint and Lance went back to playing on his phone. So Daibaxaal was just her last name. Who knew? He looked up every now and then to see if Pidge was back yet. The third time he looked up there she was.

She grinned and quickly ran over to him. “Hey loser! What’s up?”

“Nothing much. I just met one of the co founders of this place. Mrs Daibazaal.”

Pidge’s eyes went wide with shock. “You serious? Holy shit. You gotta tell me all about it on the ride back.”

“Only when you tell me what you’re working on.”

She rolled her eyes. “And risk getting killed by the security here? No thanks… Wait, is that a bite mark on your arm?”

Lance groaned in annoyance and started to walk to the door. “Okay, let me tell you how a little shitty demon brat decided to start biting me for no damn reason.”

***

Honerva quickly made her way back to her office and quickly locked the door behind her. That ring. That fucking ring on that kids hand. Lance McClain. He had to be related to Marcello. He had to. That little bastard had Marcello’s ring. She was so close to it. She touched it. Her hand brushed up against it and she just… She let it go.

_Bring us home..._

She shuddered at that voice resonating in her head. Everything was so close. She needed that ring. She needed to get her hands on it. It was calling to her. Drawing it to her. If she didn’t need to keep her composure in front of everyone she could have sliced his head off and taken the ring.

_Bring us home..._

How could such a powerful ring be in the hands of such a weedy looking child? He was intimidated by Haxus for fuck’s sake. Fucking Haxus! The little bastard would shit his pants if he came face to face with Sendak. How could he sever the blood contract she had with the Manticore? This was bullshit!

_Bring us home..._

No, she wouldn’t underestimate him again. Not again. Lance was obviously stronger than she gave him credit for. He had to have some magic inside him that she couldn’t sense at the moment. This had to mean he was either extremely powerful or so underwhelming in his abilities that it didn’t even register.

_Bring us home._

She staggered over towards her desk and raked her fingers through her hair, quickly disheveling it. “Yes…” She murmured. “Yes… But I need the ring and the deed. I need them both. I can’t bring you home if I don’t have those…” She managed to drag herself into her seat as the intrusive thoughts started to get louder and angrier.

_Home. Bring. Us. Home. Home. Home. Home. Home. Home. Bring. Us. Home. Haggar. Bring. Us. Home. Home. Home. Home. Bring. Us. Home. Bring. Us. Home. Home. Home. Home. Home. Haggar. Home. Home. Haggar. Home. Bring. Us. Home. Home. Home. Home. Bring. Us. Home. Bring. Us. Home. Home. Home. Home. Bring. Us. Home. Haggar. Home. Home. Home. Bring. Us. Home. Bring. Us. Home. Home. Home. Home. Bring. Us. Home. Home. Home. Home. Bring. Us. Home. Haggar. Bring. Us. Home. Home. Home. Home._

“I will.” She murmured. “I will. I will. Just give me more time and I will. I promise. I will. I’ll bring you home. I will.”

_BRING! US HOME!_

A sudden knock at her door made her jump. “WHAT?!”

Haxus opened the door. “Your coffee Mrs Daibazaal.”

“That’s not my name.” She growled. “That’s not my name you parasite.” She slowly stood up and stormed over to the door, her back hunched and limbs twitching unnaturally. “My name is Haggar.”

“Of course Haggar.” He said quickly. “Your coffee?” 

He quickly offered it to her. Haggar just snatched it out of his hand and with a flick of her wrist the man was thrown out of her office and hit the opposite wall with a crash. She paid no attention to it as she locked the door with another hand movement and stormed back to her desk. She needed to get rid of Lance McClain right now. She had to do something as soon as possible. She couldn’t put it off anymore with Hoverna’s duties. She had to do this now.


	20. Attempted siege

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is a little weird, but bare with me. I'm finally introducing Zarkon into the mix. So enjoy that bastard. Kudos and comment when you can. Enjoy :D

Things seemed to start off normal enough. Lance was just reading up some more in the library, like he usually did when he heard a noise outside. He ignored it for a bit, but it sounded like someone was running by the door. Probably Keith again. He seemed to run everywhere for no reason.

With a sigh he put his book down and opened the door. “Quite running around already!” He yelled out. But something was strange. The hallway was different. It seemed to have expanded and almost twisted off in an odd direction. Considering he had recently found out the house was literally built on a gate to hell, he didn’t find this surprising. “Hello? Anyone else notice this?”

There was no one there and the house was just messed up. He sighed and decided to go and see where the house was going to lead him. He never really knew what to do anymore. He was kind of just going with the flow now. He started to think that maybe that was just his life now. Fighting back seemed to be pointless anyway. As hard as he tried to deny this part of him the more it pushed back.

As he walked down the hallway he called out a few times to see if anyone would answer him. He didn’t get a vocal response but he did hear what sounded like steps heading down the hallway. He quickly followed it.

He walked down the hallway for what had to be about twenty minutes before he stopped and called bullshit on this. There was no way any hallway in this house would be a whole twenty minute walk.

He was going to call out again when he heard two people talking behind a door. Lance was kind of confused since he didn’t really recognize the voices beyond the fact that they were male. He cautiously opened the door and looked in. 

It looked like Marcello’s office, but it wasn’t in the right spot in the house for that to be the case. Either way he could see two blurry figures. They kind of looked smudged out, like the way an old photo becomes distorted and warped over the years. Without the door muffling their voices they became much clearer and he recognized one of them. One of them was definitely Kolivan. The other voice he couldn’t place just yet.

“What you’re thinking is insane.” Said Kolivan. “Do you know how dangerous this is?”

“Oh of course I do.” Said the other voice. “What I am proposing is completely off the walls. Worst thing ever. Very bad. Could and probably will backfire on me, again, but I am willing to try again.”

“You are insane.” Grumbled Kolivan. “Completely and utterly insane. You can’t just… It’s a stupid idea!”

The other voice laughed. “Well yeah, but since when have I had good ideas? But think about it. I can use the ring to absorb objects of power thereby transferring their power to the ring. Which means that I would have their power too. Then I don’t have to worry about carrying around several hundred different objects. Pretty smart huh?”

“Marcello, you are an idiot.”

Marcello huffed and crossed their arms. “It’s not that big a deal. I’ve already done it with one object of power anyway…”

“You did what now?!” Snapped Kolivan in shock. “What did you do? How have you managed to fuck up this time?”

“Relax. It’s an object that I hardly ever use anyway… Annie Oakley’s original Stevens Tip-up rifle.”

“MARCELLO!”

“What?” Whined Marcello. “It never misses its mark! Plus since it became an object of power it reloads by itself and can change forms into different firearms… Though I’ve only been able to make it change to past and present day guns and not anything from the future… Still pretty neat, right?”

“... Marcello, I am going to strangle you.”

“Yes please daddy.”

“... Please don’t make this weird.”

“I wouldn’t dream of it Kolivan. But you have to admit it is pretty cool. I can absorb any object of power and recall it at will. Do you have any idea how good this is?”

“And what if you suddenly drop dead? What happens then? Not only will they have the power of the ring but whatever object of power you happened to absorb into it.”

“... Right… Didn’t think that one through did I?”

“No. No you didn’t.”

“... So I am guessing you would actually kill me if I absorbed the walkman?”

Kolivan held his hand out. “Hand it over. Now.”

Marcello passed over a blue walkman and sighed heavily. “Here… So now that we have that out of the way, how about we go and-?”

“Finish that sentence and I’m taking your jaw.”

“Ah! Rude!”

The blurry shapes of Kolivan and Marcello slowly faded away, leaving Lance to wonder what just happened. Perhaps this was just some kind of weird vision? Some kind of memory that replayed in the house. He left the room and felt a chill run up his spine and he heard something whispering in his ear.

_Take control._

It was such a simple phrase, but it made Lance jump out of his skin. He quickly turned around and he on the roof of the manor overlooking the estate. The vast lawn seemed to stretch on and on forever. He couldn’t see fence, but he could see something. Just over the horizon he could see something moving. Something he couldn’t quite tell when it was.

He felt cold hands move over his own and slowly raised them up. Lance was now holding a rifle in his hands. He looked through the scope of the gun and saw way further than he could have. Why the hell was there a hoard of zombies heading towards the house? What the hell?

_Take control._

Before Lance could even register what he was doing he pulled the trigger.

***

A loud bang woke Lance up from his sleep. He ended up falling off the chair he was slammed into the ground. A pile of books fell on him as he did so. “Ow…”

He was quickly pulled to his feet by Hunk who looked terrified. “There you are! We are in serious trouble! Huge trouble!”

“Huh? What?”

Hunk quickly dragged Lance to the window. “Look at this!” 

Lance rubbed his eyes and saw something that looked like a small crowd of people standing around the house. “People?”

Hunk made a distressed noise. “Look harder!”

Lance rubbed his eyes again and squinted. These people they looked... emaciated, kind of dirty. Some of them looked like they were missing chunks of hair and they stood around with their mouths open and their eyes sunken into their skulls “... Oh shit! Are those zombies?!”

“Yeah.”

“... Okay, what the fuck happened while I was sleeping? Did I somehow manage to fuck up and raise the dead in my sleep?”

Hunk shook his head and quickly dragged Lance to Pidge’s room. She had several security cameras set up around the house. When she got the time to do this was anyone’s guess. Shiro and Keith there were too, but they were arguing.

“Clearly ghouls.” Said Shiro. “They aren’t rotted enough to be zombies. They look like early stage zombies, but they aren’t zombies. They are just undead.”

“One of them is missing an arm!” Whined Keith. “They are zombies!”

“Then where is their summoner?” Asked Shiro. “Where is their leader?”

“... Could be a wild hoard! It happens!”

Lance clapped his hands to get everyone’s attention. “Okay, everyone what the hell happened while I was sleeping? Why are there zombies and why can’t I hear people going gun crazy out there shooting up the living dead?”

Pidge quickly turned around in her chair to face him. “All these undead people be they zombies or ghouls, they came from here.”

“... This is because the house is built on a Hell mouth isn’t it?”

She shrugged. “Possibly, but here is the problem… We have a hoard trying to get into the house. Shiro and Keith went and quickly made sure that the windows and doors couldn’t be breached, but let's face it anything can happen. Now we kind of just have to figure out where they are coming from… Also we need to kill them all of them… Before they get here and turn us.”

Shiro shook his head. “Zombies and ghouls can’t turn you unless they are very specific undead. More than likely they would just come in here and kill you.”

“... I say we call Krolia or like Allura.” Said Lance. “Either of those options sound good to you guys?”

Everyone nodded in agreement, but Keith just grumbled and pouted. Clearly he didn’t want Krolia to be involved in this. But this was way above anything that any of them were used to dealing with. Especially the humans. Lance quickly called Krolia and hoped that she was still awake. After the phone rang for about a minute she answered. She sounded groggy, but she answered.

_“Hello?”_

“Hey, it’s Lance. Got a zombie-”

“-Ghoul.” Chimed in Shiro.

“... Undead problem.”

_“Huh? What kind of problem? Did you summon the dead? Bring some pet back to life?”_

“No, there’s a bunch of them outside just surrounding the place.”

_“... Can you switch to facetime and show me?”_

Lance quickly put her on facetime and held his phone up to the window. “See? Undead.”

_“... Well… This is… That’s a lot…”_

“Yeah, what are we meant to do?”

_“Try to thin the hoard out. I’ll get some of my coven over to help as soon as possible… What necromancer did you manage to piss off?”_

Lance frowned and looked at her. “Me? What do you mean me? I don’t know any necromancer besides, apparently, Marcello… And I never even met the guy!”

_“Well you clearly pissed off some necromancer. Why the hell else would there he a hoard of undead surrounding your house just waiting till there is no way you can escape before they even attempt to get into the house?”_

“... Any suggestions on how to stay alive?”

_“Lock yourself in a room in a high level in the house. If you can keep an eye on what is going on that's better. You still need people to thin them out.”_

“Okay. See you soon.” He hung up and gave everyone a stressed look. “Okay, so I’m just spit balling here, but I think we should barricade ourselves in Pidge’s room and maybe send the demons out to thin them out?”

“I second that.” Said Hunk. “The whole barricading ourselves in here thing… Not to sure about the plan to get rid of undead and stuff...” 

“I’m indifferent.” Said Keith with a shrug. “I mean, look, most undead to us aren’t a big deal. They can’t even get a good bite on us… But it’s not like we have to do it.”

Every human looked shocked at Keith;s words. “Wait, you’re not going to help us?” Asked Hunk.

“Pretty much.” Said Keith.

They were about to freak out and start yelling at Keith when Shiro quickly cut in. “It’s not like we don’t want to, it’s just kind of complicated… Until now we’ve kind of just lived here with you guys but that’s not what we are. We’re demons. Demons that are technically bound by magic to serve either the person who summoned us or the person we are contracted to so…”

“You need Lance to give you the order.” Finished Pidge. “This is a big thing that needs to be done and you need to be ordered to do it. Something like that?”

The demons nodded in agreement. “Something like that.”

Pidge sighed and looked over at Lance. “Well you heard them. Give them the order. I do not want to die in your shitty house.”

Lance sighed. “Okay, fine… Still got no idea what I’m doing…” He opened his mouth to speak but the words that spilled out were not his own, but were in his voice. “Shiro, Keith, I Lance McClain order you two hold back the undead hoard until such time as Krolia and the Marmora coven are able to get here and take care of the rest. Defend the house and keep Pidge and Hunk safe with your lives. Understood?”

A playful smirk made its way onto Keith’s face. “Wow, look at you. You almost sound like a real warlock.”

Shiro chuckled and pushed Keith out the door. “We got it boss. We’ll hold them back. You three barricade the door when we leave, okay?”

They didn’t need to be told twice and quickly barricaded the door with a bookshelf when the two demons were gone. Lance was quietly freaking out on the bed with Hunk while Pidge continued to monitor the situation from her screens.

“Well… This is pretty messed up.”

“Yeah…” Muttered Lance. “When did this happen?”

Pidge shrugged. “Keith and I were playing skullgirls when we heard something thump against the window. We looked out the window and there was a zombie, undead thing staring at us thumping on the window. Then another, and another, and another? It was fucking crazy. We pretty much ran up to my room and went to see what the hell was going on. Keith went to get Hunk and Shiro and then Hunk went to get you.”

“This is seriously messed up…” Whimpered Hunk. He wasn’t dealing with this very well. Lance quickly pulled Hunk into what he hoped was a comforting hug.

“It’s okay… Do any of you know any necromancer I might have pissed off?”

“No clue.” Said Pidge. She sighed and groaned. “Shit… I really can’t believe it. Zombies… Ghouls… Undead… Is this going to be like a weekly occurrence around here? If that’s the case we might need to think about living somewhere else… No offence Lance. The place is nice but you know… undead…”

“Agreed.” Said Hunk quickly. “Sorry Lance.”

“... It’s okay guys. I get it.” Lance was not happy about the undead thing either. Also he was kind of worried about what he said to Shiro and Keith. None of those words were words he willingly said himself. They were just… They weren’t his words even though he said them. It was scary.

***

The first thing that Shiro and Keith did when they left the room was rip up the stairs leading down to the first floor. In the event that the undead did get in they wouldn’t be able to get up to the next floor. It seemed like the best idea to keep the humans out of harm’s way.

“So, what was that back there?” Asked Shiro.

“What was what?” Asked Keith as he kicked out another step.

Shiro rolled his eyes and pointed part of the banister at him. “You know what I’m talking about. You would have been fine with helping thin out the undead even without an order from your Summoner. What gives?”

Keith shrugged. “Lance just doesn’t seem like a Summoner, you know? He just… He’s an idiot and I honestly didn’t think I’d feel anything if he gave me an order. Kind of just thought this might be the best opportunity to see if there was any kind of spark.”

Shiro nodded in understanding and dusted the splinters off his hand. “I felt the spark. Did you?”

“Yeah.” It wasn’t really a spark per say, just a little tug, a pull. It was a little something that compelled a demon to want to do the bidding of their Summoner. He’d only felt it once when Lance told him to tell Krolia that Shiro was a manticore. After that nothing. It was kind of weird but he guessed that Lance just wasn’t the kind of person. The kind of person that wasn’t comfortable giving people orders. It was pretty dumb and he wasn’t going to be a good warlock if he couldn’t give orders to a few demons.

After that the two of them went up to the roof to try and assess the situation. Keith was a little surprised that there were so many undead. There was a sizable crowd of the now circling the house. It was so strange.

Shiro frowned and crossed his arms. “This… This really isn’t right at all… Undead aren’t meant to be here.”

“Do you think they came out of the crack?” Asked Keith.

Shiro shook his head. “No. These kinds of undead can’t get through the barrier… Necromancer?”

“You know any Necromancer that lives around here?”

Shiro thought for a moment. “I have no idea… Anyway, that’s not why we are here is it?”

“True.” Keith stretched his arms and legs. “Okay. Throw me.”

The older demon didn’t even hesitate. He grabbed Keith’s arm and chucked him right to the back of the hoard while Shiro himself transformed into his manticore form and jumped down to trample the undead. He would have shot them with the barbs in his tail if they were actually affected by his poison.

Keith on the other hand easily tore through the hoard. They were more mummified than Keith expected. These were not fresh corpses, so more than likely they were just a hoard that got moved there by a much stronger force. They were totally zombies and not ghouls. Fuck Shiro. He knew he was right.

Though he was a little surprised that not a single one had made an attempt to try and attack him or Shiro yet. It was very weird. The hoard had to be controlled by someone. He made his way over to Shiro who was just smacking down these zombies under his paws.

“Yeah, something’s wrong here.” He said.

Shiro nodded in agreement and thumped his tail down against a few zombies. “Yeah… There is something really weird… They don’t even seem to care when I step on them. It’s like their are waiting for something to happen?”

“Yeah.” Keith didn’t like this one bit. “There has to be someth-”

The sound of a window shattering somewhere around the side of the house seemed to set something off in the undead masses. They suddenly rushed forwards. They pushed Keith to the ground and climbed over Shiro and started to tear into the house with a ferocity usually reserved for starving beasts. These undead were single minded, but after something other than flesh. They wanted something in the house.

Keith’s first thought was Lance. This place belonged to him after all. Everyone in the magic community would know that by now. These undead were going to rip the house apart to find Lance and kill him. 

“Shit!” He pulled himself up and clawed down any undead in swiping distance. “Shiro!” He called. “They want Lance!”

“I figured that much!” Yelled Shiro as he tried to buck off the undead still trying to climb over him.

***

“Shit they broke in!” Squeaked Pidge. “We’re so fucked!” 

“What do we do?” Asked Hunk. “These things aren’t slow walkers. They are pretty fast. Quick, zombie movie law, what do we do? We don’t have weapons and no offence Pidge but you have nothing in your room!”

“I know that!”

While his friends freaked out about getting weapons ready to defend themselves, Lance’s mind was somewhere else. Honestly, he should have been wondering what weapons he could be using to fight off the impending zombie attack, but he was thinking about himself. Which he had to admit was selfish, but he could use magic which was useless at the moment because he was useless. He wanted to be able to protect his friends but he had no idea how.

“...” Damn it, if demons were real he could at least try to appeal to a higher power right? There had to be some kind of heavenly body out there that would help him. “Please…” He whispered quietly to himself. “Please, someone out there help us… I don’t know how to do this. I can’t help anyone. I can’t…”

Suddenly his hand with the ring on it reached out and touched the wall. A low groan filled the house and Pidge quickly looked back at the monitors. The stairwells had started to close themselves off to prevent anyone from getting to the floor they were on.

“... Did you do that?” Asked Pidge.

Lance shrugged. “Maybe? I’m not sure how my powers work.”

Suddenly his phone went off and Lance almost dropped it in his attempt to answer it. “H-hello?”

_“Hello Lance. It’s Krolia. You weren’t joking about your undead situation… I am assuming the wingless manticore trying to get the undead off its back is Shiro?”_

“Yeah, that would be him.” Said Lance. “Do you think you can help?”

_“Yeah, but there is some good news and bad news.”_

“Oh boy…” Lance did not need to hear this. “Just tell me what it is…”

_“Good news, this is actually a very quick fix. We just need to kill the person keeping the spawn point open for the undead to get through… Bad news, it will be difficult to find them, also this particular undead kind of have the ability to keep pulling themselves together until whoever is spawning them is killed…”_

“So we are still screwed?” Asked Lance in annoyance. “This is just perfect. Thanks for the help Krolia. How the hell am I meant to know who the summoner is?” Suddenly something heavy was in Lance’s hand. When he looked down he was shocked to find he was holding a sniper. “... What the actual fuck?”

There was some commotion of the phone and Kolivan’s voice came through. _“Lance? Is that you?”_

“Yeah… So um, random question, did Marcello put a gun in the ring or something? Like a gun that’s an object of power? Because I think I’m holding it.”

_“... Well that makes things easier for us. I don’t have to tell you how to summon it. Open the nearest window and look through the scope. When you get a clear visual pull the trigger. That gun never misses its mark. Kill whoever is letting these things roam your property. Trust the gun.”_

“... Okay. I’m just going to pass you over to Hunk and Pidge in case I still need your help.” He passed his phone over to them and the duo quickly started to talk the man’s ear off about all this undead bullshit.

Lance cracked open Pidge’s window and very carefully stuck the barrel of the gun out the window. With a shaky breath he looked through the scope and to his surprise he saw what looked like a robed figure in some weird bone white mask. They were crouched behind a rock with their hands pressed against the ground. Their mask was moving slightly so Lance could only assume that they were the one allowing the undead to keep pulling themselves back together and coming back.

He took a long, slow breath to steady himself, and pulled the trigger. A split second later the masked person hit the ground and everything fell silent. Pidge checked the monitors and let out a relieved sigh.

“Whatever you just did Lance it worked. The undead aren’t moving.”

_“We’ll help you with the clean up.”_

***

There was a moment of united surprise when the connection had been completely severed. Haggar’s plan had honestly been a little ambitious but they had done it many times before in the past. Haggar’s most powerful student, her druids, would use their own magical energy to supercharge Zarkon and then, by using her own body as a conduit, Haggar would transmit his magic to a druid out in the field.

Zarkon just growled and left the magic circle he had been standing in. “I told you this was a waste.” He said. “You’re going up against a McClain and using youth as an excuse to he hasty and lazy.”

Haggar clenched her jaw and tried very, very hard to stay calm. “He is not a Necromancer or anywhere near as powerful as Marcello was.”

“Yet he stopped our attack quite quickly with no casualties on his side.” Said Zarkon. “While we are down one druid. Think about that.” He started to make his way to the door.

“Wait!” Cried Haggar. “Where are you going?! Now that Marcello is gone you are the most powerful Necromancer around! Why couldn't you do this? Why did you let such a weak and pathetic individual do this?”

Zarkon glanced over his shoulder at her. “Marcello was never important to me. This is your own vendetta to deal with. Think your plans through and use your own magic next time. This plan and the reasons for it were childish as best. The kind of plan I’d expect a new member of the coven to come up with. Not my wife. The one I started this coven with centuries ago. Don't waste my time or the blood of your druids again.”

The woman was practically shaking in anger now. But Zarkon was right. She was letting her emotions get the better of her. She wanted to be rid of Marcello for decades now, and now that he was his damn nephew was picking up right where he left off, being a little shit and ruining everything. She needed to calm down and think out a proper plan and not a knee jerk reaction to her anger.

“Yes… I acted irrationally… I shouldn’t have done that.” She muttered. “Clearly just because he is young doesn’t mean he is stupid… The McClain bloodline seems to be able to produce magical prodigies… I will reflect on my actions, Lord Zarkon.”

The man nodded and left the room. Haggar quickly dismissed the rest of the druids that were there, leaving her alone with her frustrations. She let out an indignant noise and pulled at her hair, clawing at her scalp. McClain’s were the most annoying group of magic users in existence. Hopefully this didn’t mess up their chance for a surprise attack in the near future.


	21. The pond

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The aftermath of the very terrible undead siege. Kudos and comment when you can. Enjoy :D

Once the undead situation had been resolved Kolivan and the people that came over from the Marmora coven were in the process of removing the now mummified and unmoving remains of the undead. Some other members were putting charms on the house to prevent any other sudden undead attacks. When the undead weren’t a threat the house repaired itself and everything more or less shifted back to how it had always been. 

Kolivan ended up giving the humans of the house a quick briefing about what happened. “These undead were just a group of single minded corpses controlled by a much more powerful force.” He said. “I can only assume that it was a rather powerful necromancer that was controlling them considering the number of them.”

“So is the house safe?” Asked Hunk. He was still rightfully shaken up by this.

Kolivan nodded. “Yes. The house is perfectly safe now. You have nothing to worry about.”

“I have a question.” Said Lance as he held up the sniper. “This magic gun thing I now have, why can’t I see anything out of the scope and why are there no bullets in it anymore?”

“It’s an object of power.” Informed Kolivan. “When there is something you need to shoot you will see it through the scope and there will be bullets inside it. Until then it’s practically useless. Just drop it and it should vanish.”

Lance dropped it and it seemingly vanished into thin air. “Oh, okay. That was easy?”

Kolivan nodded in agreement. “When you know the rules magic is extremely easy.”

Someone from the coven walked in and stood in the doorway. “Kolivan, we have thoroughly cleaned the interior and exterior of the estate as best we could. Ilun has done what she can to cleans the grounds. We will have to get a fae to perform a thorough clean.”

“Thank you Regris.” Said Kolivan. “Is that all?”

Regris nodded. “We have also disposed of the body of the druid. We have determined that they are definitely from the Daibazaal coven from the distinctive five eyed white corvid mask.”

Kolivan didn’t look very pleased to hear that. “Okay. We’ll take care of the Daibazaal coven.”

“... Hey Kolivan, can I ask a dumb question?” Asked Pidge. “The Daibazaal coven isn’t connected to the same Daibazaal that makes prosthetics and stuff?”

“Yeah, that’s their front.” Said Kolivan calmly. “They make a lot of money from accepting contracts from the government to make things for veterans and other things.”

Pidge sighed and slumped down in her seat on the couch. “Fuck… I have an internship with them…”

“Holy shit I was in their building the other day!” Said Lance in shock. “I could have died! Holy fuck!”

Kolivan looked very surprised. “You have an internship with them Miss Holt?”

She nodded. “Yeah… And you know that arm that Shiro has attached to his body? I think I saw it in the building. I’ve been trying to get more information on it, but it’s kind of hard when I’m just an intern.”

“I see…” Said Kolivan. “We will need to have a serious talk about this… You have put us in a very interesting position.”

Hunk excused himself and went to the kitchen. Lance quickly followed him. Both to give Kilovan and Pidge some privacy, and to make sure that Hunk was okay. While Hunk was kind of calm it was pretty obvious that Hunk was struggling with what happened. He watched Hunk walk about and made himself some calming tea.

“... Do you really want to move out?” Asked Lance. “Like, I know you guys were saying you were going to move out if you survived this and stuff so like… You know? I’ll help you guys look for a new place if you want...”

“Wait, you’re going to stay here?” Asked Hunk in shock. “Why?”

Lance shrugged. “I’m kind of responsible for this place, you know? Also I kind of still have no idea how to make Shiro and Keith go away, so they would have to come with me… It’s just easier for everyone if I stay here, you know?”

“I guess?” Hunk sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. “Look, I don’t really know what to think or really do… Like, with everything that happened I guess this is the best outcome? I’m still kind of shaken up.”

“... I’m sorry Hunk.”

“Hey buddy, this isn’t your fault.” Said Hunk in a reassuring manner. “Just… Maybe you should consider focusing a little more on magic now?”

“... Hunk?”

“Don’t get me wrong!” He said quickly. “I’m not saying you should take up magic full time, but if anymore of this crazy magic stuff happens we’re going to need to fight magic with magic… And we might not be able to rely on the Marmora coven coming to help us…”

As much as Lance hated to admit it, Hunk was right. He needed to give this some serious consideration. If they got attacked like that again they could seriously get hurt or killed. Lance would never be able to live with himself if that happened. He needed to step up.

“Okay. I’m going to find Krolia.” He walked around the house and eventually found her outside with a rake. “... Hi?”

She looked over at him and nodded. “Hello. Is everyone okay?”

“A little shaken up, but okay.” Said Lance nervously. “So um… Keith said you were an empath?”

“That I am.”

“... Can you maybe help me a little?” He asked. “This kind of made me realise how useless I’d be if anything happened and I didn’t have help…”

Krolia nodded and rested the rake against a tree. “Understood. Come with me.” The two of them walked around into the back garden of the house. Lance hadn’t really been out there much, so he was a little surprised when Kroila lead him to a secluded pond. She sat on the bench and gestured for him to do the same. 

He sat next to her and watched Shiro and Keith washing the dust from the numerous undead off themselves. Lance didn’t even know there was a pond out here. He had been too busy to even walk out here. He’d have to do it more often.

She hummed a little as she thought about what to say. “So you’re an empath?”

“Yeah…”

“Okay… So I’m guessing you were scared last night? Right?” She asked.

Lance nodded. “Terrified.”

“... Well fear is a good emotion. You can use it to attack or defend.” She said calmly. “You seem to be a little more of a pacifist so I would assume you would automatically default to defending?”

Lance shrugged. “Maybe?”

“Well, last night did you want to go out and attack the undead or did you want to set up a barricade and stop them from getting to your friends?” She asked.

“Oh… Well I guess defending is my thing or something?”

She smiled and put her hand on his back. “That’s good. You’re doing amazing already. It’s kind of like a fight or flight response. You have a very strong flight response but not a very strong fight one. But it’s easy enough to change. Attack to defend.”

“... Attack to defend?”

“It might be a little tricky, but you can do it.”

There was a loud splash and they looked over at the two demons. Shiro was laughing at Keith who was sitting in the shallows with a face full of mud. Seconds later Keith threw a handful of mud at Shiro which shut him up. Shiro then dunked him under the water.

Krolia snickered. “I’m glad Keith and Shiro were able to grow up together. They are good for each other…”

“... Do you regret not keeping Keith with you?” Asked Lance. He knew he probably shouldn’t have. It was probably a sensitive issue. 

She sighed. “Sometimes… But it was what was best for Keith at the time. The witch trials were just starting to go into full affect, the coven was trying to figure out the safest place to hide for a few decades, and well… Keith is a boy. Boy sin-eaters attack their sars when they hit puberty so he had to stay with his dar. If Keith was born a girl I would have kept him with me since female sin-eater attack their dars when puberty hits. Though considering Keith’s appetite I am kind of glad his dar was able to take him.”

“Yeah, guess it can be a little hard trying to take care of a kid if it attacks you when they become a teenager.”

She nodded in agreement. “Anyway, have you got a song or a poem that you have strong feelings towards?”

Lance shrugged. “I can’t think of anything at the moment… Oh, I did read a little about empath stuff. Music is meant to help with that right?”

“Yes.” Krolia smiled and hummed softly. “Many years ago I used to sing this lullaby to Keith and it eventually became the one thing I would always default to if I needed to center myself. It’s such an old song I don’t think any normal human alive would know of it anymore.”

“Oh, the one that goes; I’m whole with you. You’re whole with me. Right?”

She looked very confused. “Excuse me?”

“... Oh I um… A while ago I was trying to see if I could touch objects of power and try to do some magic stuff with that.” Lance attempted to explain.”Shiro wouldn’t let me touch the skull he has but he Keith let me touch his knife and I just… Yeah… I saw you singing to a baby. I’m assuming that was Keith.”

Krolia nodded and smiled. “Yes. It’s a very old song. You don’t hear people singing that song anymore… I guess that makes it even more special now, huh?”

“Yeah…” Lance sighed and continued to watch the two demons messing around in the shallows over the other side of the pond. Keith was trying and failing to knock Shiro over into the water, so he just decided to throw mud at him instead.

“How are things going with Keith?” Asked Krolia. “Have you been able to connect with him more?”

“Huh? Why?”

Now Krolia just looked confused. “You’re his Summoner. You two have a bond.”

“Really?”

“Yeah.” She gestured over to the two demons still messing around in the pond. “You’re in charge of two demons. They will follow your orders when you tell them to do things, but they can do more for you if you put some effort into the relationship. The best kind of relationship you can forge with a demon is that of a partnership rather than that of say a master and servant.” She gave him a little nudge. “Go over and talk to them. I promise you this will help you with your magic. Building bonds is good.”

Lance nodded and very cautiously walked around to the other side of the pond where it looked like Shiro was drowning Keith. The smaller demon was flailing as Shiro held his head underwater for a few seconds as he vigorously shook him.

“... Um, why are you trying to kill Keith?”

“Oh, not trying to kill him. Just trying to get him to wash the mud and dead people out of his hair.” Informed Shiro. “Keith never cleans himself properly and just hates sticking his head underwater..” He pulled Keith up and he shrieked and flailed around in Shiro’s grip for a moment before he calmed down and punched Shiro. 

“Dick.”

“You had teeth in your hair.”

“You have bones in your mane!”

Lance just nodded along and looked along the edge of the pond. “So um… Are you two okay with all this stuff that’s happened?”

Shiro shrugged. “To be fair we haven’t seen many undead before. We hardly ever encounter undead. Neither of us like eating rotten meat so we don't seek them out.”

“Too many diseases in dead things.” Chimed in Keith as he ever so casually wiped a handful of mud into Shiro’s mane. “Could also be cursed so, you know.”

“...” Shrio knocked Keith over and held him under the water for just for a few seconds before he let him breathe air again. “Either way we don’t eat dead things.”

“Okay… Do you need help to get all that mud out of your mane?”

Shiro shook his head. “Nah, I got it.” Shiro very unceremoniously fell into the water, splashing both him and Keith with muddy water. The manticore then wandered off into deeper water to try and clean the rest of himself. 

Lance frowned and looked down at his shirt, now all wet and muddy. “Gross…” Suddenly a ball of mud hit Lance square in the chest. “Ew! Gross! There are worms in that one!” He glared at Keith who had a cheeky grin on his face as he playfully rolled another ball of mud in his hands. “Keith!”

“What? Never played in mud before?” He threw another mud ball at him.

Lance quickly held his hand out to block it. Both were surprised that Lance was able to stop it mid air. “Well… This is new?”

“Yeah… How are you doing that?”

“Not too sure…” He flicked his wrist and the mud ball flew back and hit Keith. 

"Hey!"

“Oops?”

Keith looked surprised for a moment before he grinned and quickly scooped up another handful of mud. “You know, you shouldn’t challenge a demon to any kind of fight. Especially when you’re someone that refuses to accept that they are a warlock.”

Lance was quickly getting used to the sinking feeling he got in his stomach ever since he first summoned Keith. “Um… I wasn’t challenging you?”

“Too late.” Keith hucked another mud ball at him.

***

Krolia watched in amusement as the two attacked each other with mud balls and turned into huge messes. She couldn’t remember the last time she had seen her kit so happy in recent memory. He’d been way too angry and stressed. This was good for both of them.

As she watched the Shiro pulled himself out of the pond and sat by her. Still in his manticore form he shook some water off his tail and tried not to shake his mane that much to avoid getting water all over her.

“They get along pretty well.” He said. 

Krolia nodded in agreement and waved her hand next to her, making a towel appear on the bench beside her and gestured to Shiro. “If you wish to change back and be decent in the presence of a lady.”

“Right. One moment…” When Krolia turned her head Shiro quickly turned back and wrapped the towel around his hips. “Okay, I’m decent now.”

“Thank you.” She glanced over at him and noticed that the man was watching Keith and Lance. “How do you feel about Lance being Keith’s Summoner? Do you think that Keith could become Lance’s familiar?”

Shiro shrugged. “Anything is possible. Keith does seem to like Lance quite a lot. He’s actually play fighting with him… And I’m actually glad Lance ended up summoning Keith. He’s probably one of the nicest warlocks I’ve ever met.”

Krolia nodded in agreement as she watched Lance quickly make a shield out of pond water which only just deflected a mud ball. This play fighting was good for the both of them. It helped relax Keith, and would help Lance use his powers. Force him to make snap decisions on the fly.

“They should spend more time together.” Said Krolia. “... Do you think you can help with that, Shiro? I know we probably aren’t on the best terms right now, considering our coven was going to kill you and all.”

“... You were going to what now?”

“... Regardless, I think Lance is good for Keith. Will you help?”

Shiro thought for a moment. “Hmm, I guess. They seem to be happy enough together. Keith hasn’t tried to kill him and Lance hasn’t tried to do something dumb like throw a holy book at him.”

“Wonderful.” She smiled happily and watched the two idiots across the pond acting like idiots.


	22. Getting along

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The boys are starting to hang out more, like they should be! Kudos and comment when you can. Enjoy :D

Lance was relieved that Hunk and Pidge had ended up deciding to stay, though the two of them had decided to make their rooms a little more monster proof, so they were doing that. Meanwhile Lance was back to reading in the library. Which apparently didn’t sit well with Keith and the demon pretty much sat around in the library too. Though Lance wasn’t sure why. 

Keith ended up making something that looked like a book igloo out of the books that were on the shelves. He did manage to find a few books written in Latin he could read and was thumbing through one of said books. Every once in a while he would look up at Lance and pout.

“Lance, this is boring.”

“Go and play a video game if your bored.”

“I like playing two player and Pidge is reinforcing her room.” Said Keith. “And Hunk’s also doing that so I can’t get him to make me food.”

“... What about Shiro?”

Keith shrugged. “He went out for a walk I guess? He’s not around… I miss him… But I guess he’ll be back soon… So it’s just us.”

“And you want me to entertain you?” Lance chuckled. “And you say you’re not a kit.”

Keith pouted and crawled out of his igloo. “I’m not a kit. What are you reading anyway? I’m a demon. Maybe I can help?”

That thought hadn’t seemed to have crossed Lance’s mind before. “Huh… I guess you could. You know anything about celestials?”

Keith frowned and walked over to him, quickly taking up residency on the arm rest of the chair Lance was currently sitting in. “Celestials? Those are angels and shit like that, right?”

“Yeah. Book says they are also called heavenly hosts.” Said Lance. “They are meant to be the opposite of demons, right?”

Keith nodded as he looked over at the book Lance was reading. He screwed his face up when he saw the words. Probably written in a language that Keith wouldn’t read. But the book had some pretty good pictures in it that Keith could look at. So at least there was that.

“Celestials aren’t necessarily good. Sure they are benevolent than demons, but in reality we are kind of the same things.” Said Keith. “I mean angels are technically my cousins and all that.”

“Which mythos are we referring to?” Asked Lance.

Keith shrugged. “I don’t think it really matters all that much. Do you? Point is those guys generally don’t come here and bother humans that much or demons for that matter and we don’t bother them. We have a system. They don’t bother us and we don’t bother them… Also that whole angel just looks like a person with wing things is complete bullshit. Most celestials I;ve seen look like wings and faces glued together. The sick fucks also have a marble shell. It’s gross.”

“Really? You think angels look gross?”

Keith nodded. “Yeah. Believe it or not the fucks are super vain and like to make themselves pretty. I hate them.”

Lance just nodded along. Clearly there was some strong anti-angel sentiment going on here. But Lance couldn’t help but remember what he had read about sin-eaters a while ago. Something about sin-eaters maybe being angel-demon hybrids? Would that be offensive to ask Keith about? Would he put him in a headlock if he asked about it? Well he’d never know if he never asked.

“So… Sin-eaters…”

“What about us?”

“... Read you might be related to angels?”

Keith narrowed his eyes at him and glared. “Do humans fuck monkeys?”

Lance blinked owlishly at the demon. “Excuse me?”

“Do humans fuck monkeys?”

“No. The sane ones don’t.”

“Then don’t fucking ask me if demons fuck angels!”

Lance just slowly nodded. “Okay… Is fucking angels kind of considered beastiality to demons?”

“Kind of.” Keith looked at some of the pictures and pointed to one of the angels. “Got no idea how that thing fucks. It’s two interlocking rings, has a billion eyes, and is on fire. How does it fuck? No one knows.”

Lance nodded a little and kind of wondered how an angel like that would fuck. Then he wondered if it was considered a sin if he wondered that thing. Angels and celestials and all that jazz was weird. Then again so were demons.

“I see… So… You aren’t related to celestials at all?”

“... Well I didn’t say that.” Muttered Keith. “Somewhere really far down the line… That’s all.”

Lance nodded and continued to flip through the book. “So… Angels don’t look like people?”

“Only guardian angels, arch-angels, and the principalities and powers are human looking.” Said Keith. “Everyone else is just body parts, wings, eyes, and fire.”

“That’s still freaky… So if a demon and an angel boken it would have to be one of those guys?”

“Yeah, and they would have to be very, very drunk.” Keith reached over and ran his claws through Lance’s hair. It made Lance freeze up for a moment because damn what the hell? This was very weird. After a few seconds Keith seemed to realise what he was doing and quickly moved his hand away, clearing his throat awkwardly. “So um… Yeah… Celestials are kind of assholes. They are super entitled.”

“Yeah, okay…” Lance ran his fingers through his hair. Having Keith do that to him felt really weird. Did he have something in his hair? Some fluff? Probably. “So… I think that I’m done reading for today.”

“Okay.” Keith kind of looked around the library and lightly tapped his foot against the ground. “So… What now?”

Lance shrugged. “Want to play a video game? You like skullgirls or something. Right?”

Keith’s eyes lit up. “Yeah. I call playing as Painwheel!”

Lance smiled and happily followed Keith down to the lounge room. Despite how mature Keith tried to make himself appear, he was very much excitable like his niece or nephew. Keith acted like a child. Though at the same time he couldn’t help but feel a small tingling sensation in the back of his skull. Something that was warning him of danger. That Keith was dangerous and he shouldn’t let his guard down. Which was true. Keith was extremely dangerous and he knew he shouldn’t let his guard down around the demon. He wouldn’t do something that dumb.

He set everything up while Keith happily made himself comfortable on the couch and grabbed one of the controllers. Keith did end up choosing Painwheel as his character and Lance randomly chose a character called Parasoul. Keith was really good at the game, which was no surprise to Lance. He hadn’t been playing it much.

Keith made a small pleased trilling sound when he won the second fight in a row. “Ready to go another round?”

“Yeah sure. You’re really good at these. Is this normal for a demon to be good at video games?”

Keith shrugged. “I just like fighting games. They are cool.”

Lance nodded and tried very hard to block Keith’s constant combo attacks. “So… I’m guessing this isn’t want you guys usually do down in hell? Do I need to be doing something to keep you healthy or something?”

“Oh? You actually trying to take good care of me?” Asked Keith in a playful way.

“... I’m sticking you back in the basement.”

“Only if you beat me at skullgirls.”

“I don’t make deals with demons.”

“... Lance, you literally have a blood contract with Shiro. You already made a deal with a demon.”

“... Shit, you’re right.” Lance pouted and decided that since he was losing anyway, he might as well cheat the way only the youngest of five siblings could cheat. He slowly started to lean closer and closer to Keith until he was almost leaning on top of him and started breathing loudly in his ear.

Keith huffed and glanced over at him from the corner of his eye. “Lance… What the fuck are you doing?”

“Hmm, nothing.” He nudged and jerked Keith’s arm, doing his best to make him mess up. He was able to make Keith mess up a few times, which made Keith growl and hiss in frustration.

Despite Lance’s cheating Keith still won. “Ha! Still beat you. Cheater.”

Lance pouted and poked him. “Yeah well, fuck you.”

Keith poked him back. “I ain’t no sex demon so you can keep dreaming.”

“Not even if I ordered you?” Said Lance as he poked him again.

“If you ordered me to have sex with you I’d make sure it was the worst experience in your tiny mortal life.” Keith poked him. “I’d make you hate having sex so much that you’d be upn in the library trying to find ways to remove your sex organs.”

Lance rolled his eyes. “Damn Keith, I was just joking. Only time I’d ask someone to fuck that I wasn’t in a romantic relationship would be a prostitute and…”

“... And?”

“Keith, I have just realised something important.”

“Oh? What’s that?”

“I am rich enough to afford prostitutes. High end prostitutes.”

Keith frowned. “What’s a prostitute?”

Lance gave him a confused look. “You don’t know? It’s a person, usually a woman, that has sex with people in exchange for money… Guess you don’t have that in hell?”

Keith shook his head. “Most demons don’t fuck outside of their species. Some do, but most don’t. And of the ones that do fuck outside of their species it’s usually sex demons doing their own thing. If demons don’t want to screw around bites, scratches and the occasional murder gets the point across… And we don’t have money in hell. We barter with thing we have.”

“What did you usually barter with?”

Keith shrugged. “Bones? Teeth? Fur? That kind of stuff. I usually traded for things with bones. Mostly spinal cords. They are easy enough to carry around.” 

“Huh. That’s pretty cool I guess.”

Shiro walked in and smiled at them. He looked like he was wearing gym clothes. “Glad to see you two getting along.”

Keith nodded and shoved Lance away. “Where were you?”

“I did a few laps of the property. Just a light bit of cardio really.” He sat on the couch and sighed contently. “So, what are you doing and why are you climbing all over Keith?”

Lance blushed a little and got off of Keith. “Trying to win at least one round of skullgirls. Keith is too good at this. I hate it.”

“It has to do with fighting.” Said Keith. “Of course I’d be good at it.”

Shiro nodded. “Okay. Cool… You two should go outside for a bit. Getting some fresh air will do you both a world of good.”

Keith pouted slightly and looked back up at the TV. “... One more round first?”

***

After Keith had kicked Lance’s ass again the two of them were walking around the property. Lance hadn’t looked around it much, but Keith didn’t mind. He was happy enough to show Lance around the place he should have known. They walked to the pond, some greenhouse that had several broken glass panels. 

Keith kicked some of the weeds and glass away while humming to himself. “Shiro has been cleaning this place out. It gets warm because of the glass and he likes sunning himself in here.”

Lance nodded and looked around. “Okay… I guess we could make this into some kind of sunning room? A basking room? Probably would be a good idea if some lizard person ends up having to stay here with us, right?”

Keith shrugged. “Whatever. You do what you like. I don’t care.”

Lance hummed a little and continued to walk around the dead garden beds. “... There’s a shed around here, right? There has to be a rake or something in there. Let’s go and get it.”

“Sure.” Keith lead him to the only shed on the property. It was way off in a little tucked away corner almost completely surrounded by trees. He pushed open the doors and went inside to look at the tools that were in there. “What does a rake look like again?”

“Whoa…” Lance ignored Keith and walked past him to the far end of the shed where a large black rock was placed. It had a dark red crack down the middle of it, almost splitting it in half. Surrounding it was a magic circle. “Is this the crack Shiro came through?”

Keith nodded. “Yep. Due to all the charms only very strong magic users can get through it. It’s also guarded pretty heavily on hell’s side… Good thing the guards are dumb fucks so Shiro can just walk by without any trouble.”

Lance nodded he stared at the rock with a strange intensity. “... Should I do something about this?”

“Huh?”

“Like, should I… I don’t know… Bury it in concrete? Put it behind a wall?”

Keith shrugged. “Do what you like. I don’t care. I can’t use it.”

Lance nodded a little, eyes still trained on the rock. “You not strong enough to get through it?”

“Maybe. Never tried before.” Admitted Keith. “Any time I’ve come up to the human world I was dragged along with my dar or Shiro. I have no idea how to go back to hell unless you dismiss me.”

“So you’ve never been to earth by yourself before?”

Keith glared at him and flipped him off. “I’ve been summoned by witches before to eat sin before by myself… Though I kind of just ate sin and got kicked back to hell before I could look around…” He remembered many times when he’d cleansed a witch or ate a witch who had committed a terrible sin against their coven only to be thrown back to hell once his stomach was full. It was a weird existence and he’d just accepted that he was just a tool for witches to use. A means to an end.

But if he really thought about it, Lance hadn’t treated him like a tool before unless it had been unintentionally or when death was a real possibility. Which just meant Lance had told him what to do twice compared to the dozens of orders that were thrown at him by the typical witch. Lance was different. He was nice. Incredibly naive when it came to magic, but he was nice and kind of treated him a little like a littermate.

Which was a weird thing for Keith to understand. They yelled at each other and verbally fought a lot, but they weren’t littermates. Lance was is Summoner and Keith was his Summoned. Treating him as an equal or something close to it was odd to him. Lance probably didn’t feel the same way being a human and all.

With a heavy sigh he grabbed Lance by the back of his shirt and yanked him away from the rock. “Okay, enough looking into the crack, which is technically looking into hell itself. Which one of these is the rake?”

Lance jumped a little in surprise and pointed to one of the gardening tools. “Rake.”

“Perfect. Let’s clean up the greenhouse for Shiro.”

Lance grabbed the rake and followed him out of the shed, but he ended up lingering at the entrance, looking back at the rock. “...”

“Something wrong there Lance?”

“... I don’t know.” He muttered. “There’s just… There’s something weird about that rock, more than just it’s a way to hell and stuff it just… I don’t know.”

Keith shrugged. “Hell tends to corrupt people. I guess you should be happy you feel weird when you look at it. Means you’re still human.”

“Huh… Alright…” Lance still seemed to be a little weird about it, but Keith figured that he wouldn’t be feeling that way for long when they started to clean the greenhouse. Manual labour tended to do that.


	23. Blood Sampling

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> omg, I mc freaking died on Friday. I was struck down with one hell of a virus and just... Argh! The past few days have been hell for me. I couldn't get out of bed without feeling dizzy and like I wanted to puke... So needless to say most of this I wrote when I was mildly delirious so enjoy the ravings of someone who was off their tits from illness. Kudos and comment when you can. Enjoy :D

Keith and Lance ended up in the ballroom again. Lance was back to trying to move things with his mind while Keith was messing around with some of the musical instruments on stage. He plucked on the strings of the harp and pressing the keys on the piano. He hummed happily to himself and kept glancing over at Lance. The poor guy looked like he was going to pop a blood vessel in his head.

“... Are you okay there?” He asked.

Lance sighed and sat on the ground. “I think I have myself a headache…”

Keith rolled his eyes and walked over to him. “Good job dumb ass.”

“Shut up man…”

Keith shook his head and gently patted Lance’s back. “Is it that bad?”

“Yes.” Lance was pouting and acting childish.

Keith sighed and very gently ran his claws over Lance’s scalp. “Okay, let me help try and relieve some of the pressure.” Lance grunted and Keith took that as consent. He carefully pressed into a few pressure points around his skull in key locations. “... Better?”

“... Surprisingly yeah?” Lance lightly pushed Keith’s hands away and ran his fingers through his hair. “That was… Wow?”

Keith shrugged. “Don’t mention it. As your demon I’m meant to help you out with these little things. You know?”

“Yeah, I guess…” Lance frowned a little. “Hey Keith? I’ve actually been wondering this for a little while, but what would happen if you ate me?”

Keith didn’t expect Lance to ask him that. “Pardon?”

He shrugged. “Look, you were able to float when you took my breath away. What would happen if you ate my blood or skin or something?”

“I have no idea and I’m not sure I want to know.” Said Keith. He gave Lance a weird look. “... You want to try, don’t you?”

“Kind of? Like, try some of my blood. Don’t actually bite a chunk out of me. Okay?”

Keith nodded and held his hand out for Lance to offer up some part of himself. He put his arm in Keith’s hand. The demon lightly scratched his arm, just enough to draw a little bit of blood. He quickly licked it up. His blood was still heavily flavoured with umami tastes of pride. He frowned a little and looked at him.

“... Alright. Still tastes like pride to me. What now?”

Lance shrugged. “Do you feel any different? Try doing some demon stuff.”

“Like what?”

“I don’t know. Climb up a wall or something? I don’t know what you can usually do man.”

Keith rolled his eyes and walked over to the wall. He kicked his shoes off and very carefully started to climb. Nothing felt out of the ordinary until he got about halfway up the wall. He felt his claws suddenly elongate, while his fangs suddenly pushed out of his gums and he felt his heart rate start to race.

He shuddered and drew his limbs in close to his body and started to hyperventilate. “Fuck…” He whimpered. “Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fucking fucf, fuck, fuck, fuck.”

“... Keith? You okay?” Asked Lance in a slightly worried tone. “Should I get Shiro?”

“Fuck!”

“I’m going to get Shiro…” Lance quickly ran out of the room.

Keith’s body was shaking uncontrollably. Was he having a stroke or something? A seizure? A demon seizure? His back was burning and it fucking hurt. Why the fuck was his body acting like this from just a few drops of Lance blood? This was ridiculous.

He heard Lance and Shiro come back into the room. He quickly snapped his head around and stared at them. This look on his face must have been shocking since they both stopped and stared at him in surprise. 

Shiro slowly walked towards him. “Keith? Buddy? Are you okay? Your spine is kind of poking out of your back…” He looked over at Lance. “And all he did was just taste some of your blood?”

“Yeah. Fuck if that’s what my blood can do what would happen if he actually ate me?”

Shiro shrugged and reached up to Keith. “Okay. Time to let go of the wall.”

Keith growled a little and dug his nails deep into the wall. He felt like a wound up spring. It felt like at any moment he could snap and suddenly snap. He had no idea how he would snap but he could just feel a surge of strange demonic energy flowing through him. He pressed his forehead against the wall and breathed heavily.

He suddenly felt Shiro’s hands on his hips and the two of them slowly started to get dragged down the wall due to gravity. Keith hissed the entire time they were in motion. He hated this. He needed to get all this extra energy out somehow.

“Shiro…” He growled through gritted teeth. “You and Lance need to leave now. Go outside and lock the door. Don’t come in for a few hours… I think I need to break things.”

“... Noted.” Shiro let Keith go and quickly pulled Lance out of the room, locking the door behind them.

***

The second Shiro locked the door Lance could hear Keith absolutely obliterating everything in the ballroom. “... So, my blood did that?”

Shiro nodded. “That’s the power of an empath.” He said. “Your body can really screw a Sin-eater up since you can quickly mimic the emotions of the people around you and make them your own emotions. Akira said he would always avoid Empaths if he could help it. The only Empath he would go near willingly was Krolia. Something about your emotions and feelings lingering and stuff about sin… I never really understood it that well being a manticore and all.”

Lance tried to understand what Shiro was saying. “Okay so… Maybe how I am feeling at the time or soon after also affects Keith if he feeds off me?” He suggested. “Like, I was kind of happy after he ate my sin the first time and he got all happy and started floating? Now he’s destroying everything after I got all frustrated over my lack of any actual magic powers?”

“It’s possible. I wouldn’t know.” A loud crash and a scream came from behind the door that made the two flinch slightly. “We should move… Maybe go and read a boom or something? I don’t know how long Keith will be like this… I’ll go and warn Pidge and Hunk not to come down here.”

“Okay cool… I guess I’ll be in my room.” Lance wandered back to his room and flopped onto his bed. His thoughts instantly went to Keith. The poor demon looked so pained and distressed. Were Empaths dangerous to Sin-eaters? Was he dangerous to Keith?

He sighed heavily and looked around his room. He needed to distract himself. Maybe he should start making his room undead proof like Pidge and Hunk? That would be a good thing to do, right? Maybe organise someone to bring in new glass for the greenhouse?

His eyes fell on a book that he wasn’t sure he brought in, and picked it up. He had no idea to be honest. He flipped through the book and was surprised to see that it was his uncle’s diary. Which was really weird. He had no idea how this got in here. Reading his uncle’s secrets wasn’t the worst thing to do to pass the time.

Lance made himself comfortable on his bed and picked a random date and started to read. The date he had chosen started off with Marcello dramatically lamenting how boring the past month had been for him. How no one was coming by to see with anymore. How no one needed the help of a powerful Necromancer anymore. That was until one night...

***

Marcello was walking around his office with his reading glasses pushed high up on his nose. Today was so boring. Everything was so boring. He needed a new hobby. Maybe he should take up doll repaints or taxidermy. If he took up taxidermy he’d probably end up making those really weird ones. The ones with frogs in hats and stuff.

The house started to creak and groan which caught Marcello’s attention. The house would always subtly warn him if something was happening on his property. He looked out the window and saw a man marching up his driveway with a purpose. It was a little hard to tell but this person looked like they might have been an orc, or at least a half orc. 

It made Marcello grin. Finally something exciting was happening. He happily sat down in his office chair and happily waited for them to come in. Since he wanted this person to enter his home he had no doubts that the house would unlock and lead the man directly to him.

Marcello wondered what they could need his help with. Maybe to settle a dispute? Take down a warlord? Help get some personal property back? Deposit or take something out of their safe? And and all of those possibilities would be fun.

However he was quickly drawn out of his happier thoughts when the half orc kicked the door in with such force that it cracked off its hinges. “... That was a mahogany door gifted to me by the forest spirits of the Avalon forest.” Marcello let out a long sigh and took off his glasses before putting on his best smile. “So how can I help you?”

The man grinned at him but he had venom in his eyes. “You must be Marcello.”

“Yep.”

“I have heard a lot about you.”

“Oh? Really now?”

“The necromancer of madness.” Said the half orc. “The scorn of the ten realms. The typhoon of Mardorma. He who walks the oceans of blood. A monster. A thing whose blood radiates with a darkness that not even the demons can fathom. The-”

Marcello suddenly threw his head back and moaned loudly. “Oh you dirty slut. Work the shaft.”

The man had a look of disgust and utter confusion on his face. “E-excuse me?”

Marcello shrugged. “I just like to throw some dirty talk in when someone is clearly sucking my dick.”

“... I’ll just skip to my point. My name is Bogh. You-”

“And I’m Kermit the frog. Welcome to the muppet show.”

Bogh looked pissed. “Take this seriously you asshole! I’m trying to have a serious conversation here!”

“So am I, and I am failing.” Said Marcello. “Sorry about that… It’s just that I’m a little upset because some beefed up shithead decided to break into my house, without knocking like a decent person, and destroyed my one of a kind mahogany door, and now is trying to impress me like I’m his alcoholic father.”

Bogh practically roared and pointed a knife at him. “Don’t you dare speak of my father! You murdered my father! I’ve come to avenge him.”

Marcello gave him a very confused look. “... Okay, I am going to level with you here. I have murdered a lot of people and I mean a lot of people. Care to be a little bit more specific for my sake?”

“Grognear!” Snapped Bogh. “You slaughtered him without thought or reason. You just came up to him and ripped him apart.”

Marcello nodded as he thought this over. “Grognear… Grognear, Grognear, Grognear…” Suddenly his eyes lit up in recognition. “Oh! Good old Groggy! I miss that guy. Why wouldn’t I? He left little to no impression on me I wish he had put up more of a fight. So I could actually remember him.”

Bogh screamed in anger and threw his knife at him. It only just missed his neck but pinned his collar to the chair he was sitting on. “DON’T YOU SPEAK OF HIM LIKE THAT! HE WAS A GOOD MAN! YOU’RE A FUCKING MURDERER!”

Marcello, unphased by the outburst removed the knife from the chair and stabbed it back into the table. “Look, let me level with you. A group of nymphs had asked me to find and kill whatever was stalking, murdering, eating and raping their group. Sometimes it was all those things and in different orders, but it was generally in that order… So technically it was necrophilia? Assault is assault. Anyway, kind of hard to argue that daddy was a good man when he was balls deep in half a chewed up torso.”

“Fuck you! My father wasn’t like that!” Bogh took another knife out of his pocket and pointed it menacingly at him. “He might have been an orc but he wasn’t a monster!”

Hearing him rant and rave just made Marcello yawn. “So, I’m just spitballing here, but it sounds like you’re mad at your dad not me.”

“What?”

“Your dad was a fucking violent and depraved bastard, even by orc standards.” Said Marcello. “He must have beaten the shit out of you and your mother, if she was even in the picture. Either way this guy abused you, you have a deep seated need for revenge. However now that I killed him you can’t have that so you have moved your anger onto me because you have a raging justice boner but no one to fuck with it.” He stood up and sighed. “Go home Bogh. The vengeance you seek is neither justified nor here.”

For a moment it looked like Bogh was going to back down and leave. But there was a spark in his eyes that demanded some kind of bloody retribution. His knife flew out of his hand and struck Marcello in the shoulder. Then another, and another, and another hit their mark. Over and over again till Marcello’s body looked like a bloody pincushion.

“You really think I’d just leave?” He growled. “After everything you did to my family I’ve been training every single day for this moment!” He took a flask out of his pocket and doused Marcello’s bloody body in a foul smelling liquid before setting him on fire. “I’ve never stopped training and finding every fucking way to kill a necromancer. Compared to you I am a demi-god!” From deep within his coat, Bogh pulled out a sword and swung it at him, decapitating him.

With both head and body still on fire Bogh left the room and attempted to leave the house. The key word being tried. The house, like most of the objects within were controlled by the will of Marcello, and when someone crossed Marcello as Bogh had just done, they were not allowed to leave the house alive.

It was mildly annoying, but with a little bit of magic and determination Marcello was able to pull himself together, though he was severely burnt and had several holes in his body now. Then there was the fact that his body was only being holding his head in place with a few chared strings of flesh. Now he was pissed.

He very slowly patted himself down to extinguish any flames and he slowly walked down the hall towards Bogh. The man was lost in the halls. He was muttering about doing down stairs but still being on the second floor. That was no surprise to him.

Marcello couldn’t help but crack a smile. “You know, when you kill someone by stabbing them fifty times, setting them on fire, and cutting of their heads… You better make sure they are dead.”

Bogh jumped in surprise and stared at Marcello in scared shock. He didn’t seem to think that Marcello would have survived that. “... Shit.”

The fear in his voice made Marcello’s smile turn into a sick smirk. “I’ll give you a five second head start before I slaughter you. Five…”

“W-wait what?”

“Four…”

Bogh quickly turned and ran. He knew he had fucked up and Marcello was done trying to be kind to him. He should have just left the house when he had the chance. But he blew it, and to be honest Marcello was kind of happy about it. He was starting to get a little bored just loafing around his home.

“Three…”

He took a few steps forward and lightly waved his hand. In his hand he summoned up one of his favourite weapons, a Smith and Wesson .357 Magnum revolver. Unless he needed a gun for a very specific thing it was his go to choice.

“Two…”

He didn’t know where Bogh had run off to, but he knew his house would lead him in the right direction. It always did. He brushed some of the charred flesh of himself, flinching when he raw red muscle was exposed. It would take a little while, but he could easily heal it once he took care of Bogh.

“One.”

Marcello broke into a sprint and jumped through the first door that the house opened up for him and started shooting without looking. Needless to say he repeatedly hit his mark without him even trying. It was a magic gun after all. A disgustingly warm fuzzy feeling swelled in Marcello’s chest when he heard Bogh cry out in pain. His shots, deadly, accurate, and made to cause the most trauma. In other words, Marcello had shot off Bogh’s foot, one of his arms at the elbow, and some of his fingers. The half orc was freaking out now even more than he was before.

“W-what the fuck?!” He stammered. “What the fuck?! What the fuck?!”

His fear just made Marcello laugh. He bent down and picked up his dismembered arm. He squeezed it tightly, making the bones crack and splinter as blood oozed out of it. “Oh? What’s all this now? You were talking all that good shit before when you set me the fuck on fire. So let’s go Mr demi-god.”

“What the fuck?!”

“Come on demi-god!” He mocked. “Summon up your army of demons! Fight me! Kill me! Make me your bitch! Can you do it?! Can you fucking do it!”

“W-what the fuck are you?!”

“DO IT!” Screamed Marcello. “DO IT! FIGHT ME! FIGHT ME! FIGHT ME DEMI-GOD! FIGHT ME!”

Bogh was too stunned and scared to actually say or do anything. He just stared at Marcello in fear and babbled on about how there was no way he was just a necromancer. It was… Disappointing. Bogh wasn’t as fun as he thought it would be. At least now he could plan the rest of his evening; a nice lotion bath with lots of fae products. Anything to make his burnt skin peel off and promote the new skin to grow.

“Well, this was a fun what? Half hour? But you’re boring me now.” Marcello pulled the trigger and shit Bogh in the head. He’d let the house deal with cleaning up the body. It always did.

***

Lance slowly closed the book and stared up at the ceiling. That diary entry sure was something. Marcello was one hell of a man. Though it did seem kind of weird that he was able to survive getting stabbed repeatedly, decapitation and immolation. His uncle was probably embellishing the story somewhat.

He looked around the house and wondered if he could form a bond with the house like Marcello seemed to have. He wanted to be able to have the house let him know when people were coming onto the property. Might have been worthwhile when the house was under attack by the undead a few days ago.

There was a knock at his door and Lance glanced over at it. “Come in.” He called.

Hunk looked into the room and smiled sheepishly. “Hey there buddy. Can I come in?”

“Yeah sure.” Lance patted a spot next to him.

Hunk smiled a little and lied down on the mattress next to him. “... So, how are you going?”

“Eh, can’t complain.” Muttered Lance. “I mean, survived a small scale undead uprising, I’m a warlock, I have two demons, and I think my blood made Keith go feral.”

“... Why did your blood do that?”

“Oh right! I forgot to tell you.” Lance sat up and quickly explained that Keith ate his sin by sucking the air out of his lungs and then he started to float. Then how today he let Keith taste his blood and now he was destroying the ballroom because he seemed to have gone into a rage and kind of transformed.

“Seriously?”

“Yeah. He went all demonic with his claws, fangs, and horns.” Said Lance. “Then when I came back after getting Shiro he had all these bone looking plates running down his spine. Like he was in the middle of transforming or something like that.”

“Wow… That is… Wow.”

“I know… Oh, I also found Marcello’s diary.” Said Lance as he held up the book. “My uncle was a nutbag. Apparently survived getting stabbed, decapitation and set on fire.”

Hunk looked very, very surprised. “Wow… Your uncle was one weird guy.”

“Yeah, he was… Want to get pizza for dinner?”

“Sounds good to me.”

***

Keith collapsed face first onto the ballroom floor. The whole place was completely trashed. At least whatever Lance’s blood had done to him had finally worked its way out of his system. He sighed and slowly sat up, stretching and cracking his back. That was one hell of an experience. It was like he was just venting all his frustrations out in one explosive blast. In a way it was kind of cathartic.

He got up and brushed some of the splinters off himself as the room slowly started to pull itself back together. It was nice that he didn’t have to worry about having to clean the room himself. Keith went to open the door but wasn’t surprised to see find it was locked. He knocked a few times.

“Hey? Shiro? Lance? Hunk? Pidge? Someone? Can you let me out now?”

The door unlocked and Shiro opened the door. “You good now? No more freaking out?”

“Yeah.”

“Good…” Shiro sighed a little and crossed his arms. “New house rule, no eating Lance or feeding off him in anyway, shape or form. Empaths do not agree with you.”

Keith frowned. “First of all, no. Second of all, I’m only going to eat his sin. I’m sticking to sucking his sin out through his lungs. I’d rather float for a few minutes rather than what the hell just happened… Speaking of, can you tell me if I still have these freaking bones coming out of my spine?” He turned around and let Shiro look.

Shiro touched his back and hummed a little. “It looks like whatever these bones are they are receding back inside you… Do you think this might be because you’re beast-blooded? Akira did say that you would have different demonic features since you aren’t fully Sin-eater? Consuming an empath probably triggered something in you?”

“Maybe.” Keith yawned. Destroying an entire room really took it out of him. I’m going to take a nap now.”

“Okay you do that.”

Keith hummed and walked to their room to cuddle in their nest.


	24. Key to Armageddon

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello you fabulous people. Here is another chapter for you. I need to get some sleep now. Kudos and comment when you can. Enjoy :D

Haggar quietly stalked the innermost halls of the Daibazaal company. The innermost sanctum, protected by thousands of spells. Anything to protect her coven. She would do anything to save it. There wouldn’t be a repeat of last time. She would make sure of it.

As she walked down the halls she happened to run into Sendak. The man towered over her by several feet and had taken to wearing an eyepatch after the Manticore poked it out with a bone several weeks ago.

He nodded at her. “Haggar.”

“Sendak.” She muttered. “How is your new eye? Is it working?”

“Still getting a buzzing in my skull.” He grumbled.

She shrugged. “What did you expect? Your new eye is made from a psychic stone. It will take awhile for you to get properly attuned to it.” She looked over at one of the locked doors in the hallway and frowned. “You caught someone…”

That made Sendak chuckle and nod. “Yeah. Just some stupid human trying to steal company secrets. Needless to say they are fired and are in the middle of their exit interview.”

Now that pissed Haggar off. “What information did they find? What were they looking for?”

“They were trying to steal designs to help people with paralysis.” Said Sendak. “The highly classified stuff that we’re still trying to recreate with normal human things and not magic. They found the magic.”

It always annoyed Haggar when these people tried to steal the designs her company created. She hated parasites like that. “Finish that exit interview now… Try using your new eye to do it. I think you will like the results.”

Sendak looked a little surprised but after a few seconds a sick smirk made its way onto his face. “Thank you Haggar. I think I will.” He walked into the room. Seconds later a horrific shrieking came from behind the door, quickly followed by the laughter of a mad man. Then the strangled sounds of someone drowning and choking at the same time. When the sound died down Sendak walked out. His shirt was now covered in blood but he looked content.

“How did it go?” She asked.

“Much better than I would have thought. Forcing them to relive their most traumatic moments over and over again then giving them a pen was quite entertaining.” He said. “By the way I need a new pen. They shoved it in their throat.”

“Then get a new pen, and a clean shirt.” She muttered as she walked away from him. Sendak was the best interrogator that they had. He was one of the first to pledge his loyalty to Zarkon and was quite a violent witch compared to many of the others in the Daibazaal coven. He was an expert at healing magic and had studied anatomy for centuries. Without the use of magic he could keep someone alive for days and days on end as he skinned then alive or slowly clip away muscle fibers. He’d only use his healing magic to stop someone from dying too soon, or if another member of the coven needed healing.

With his new gift to torture people he wouldn’t even have to lift a finger. He could just blink if he wanted and whoever he was torturing would lose their minds and kill themselves to escape the pain. If he got good at it he’d be able to manipulate what people see and maybe get them to do something before their sudden deaths. That would be good.

She smirked at the thought. Maybe if she was able to get her hands on Lance she’d let Sendak have his fun with him first before he killed himself. That would be good. If she couldn;t have the satisfaction of seeing Marcello die she would watch his stupid nephew die instead.

She entered a room filled with dozens of magical objects. Many being objects of power and other’s being magical relics. They had everything from a cassette for a walkman to vials of demon’s blood. But the one object that interested her the most at this time was a floating red rock. Well, it only looked red in the right light. It mostly looked black and kind of glassy. She remembered how she got this rock and it pissed her off so much.

***

It had been a while, but Haggar had finally managed to find another crack. She had been looking for another one for months after the fiasco that happened last time. This crack was located in a cave on a small island surrounded by a small lake of water. All she had to do was place a spell or two on it to lock it down and stop any demons from using it and she would be all set.

She was about to cast a charm on the crack when it started to glow bright red. Something was coming through. She took a step back and was fully prepared to subjugate whatever came through.

Seconds later Marcello pulled himself through and dusted himself off. “Well… That one one heck of an adventure.” He muttered to himself. He held his hands out and wiggled his fingers. “Ha! Still have all my fingers! I win this round, you scaly fuck!”

Haggar glared daggers at him. “You…” She growled.

Marcello jumped a little in surprise and gave her a confused look. “You… I wanna say… Karen? Linda? Suzen?”

“Haggar!”

“Yes, Haggar! I was just about to say Haggar!” He grinned and leaned against the rock with the crack. “So, what’s up? Do you often hang out in dark, depressing, dreary places? Or did I happen to invade your home by accident?”

“I’m going to kill you!” She raised her hand, lightning crackling off her fingertips.

Marcello quickly put his hands up. “Wait! Back it up a little Haggar. Look, let’s be real. You weren’t looking for a fight and I just fought three screaming floating heads of doom. Truce for one day? What do you say?” 

Haggar was hesitant, but she had to agree. She wasn’t prepared to fight him either. She lowered her hands and gave him a dirty look. “Fine. Get out of here.”

Marcello nodded and did a little bow. “Farewell Haggar. Till we meet again.” He turned and gave the rock a quick pat while quickly muttering something under his breath. 

This alarmed Haggar. “What did you do?”

Marcello shrugged and quickly jogged past her. “You might want to run for it!” 

“Wait, what?!” Before Haggar could get an answer out of him, the rock that the crack was on imploded and condensed into a small, red and black rock. She stared at the rock, completely shocked. It was practically useless now. She couldn’t use it for what she wanted, and Marcello had just run out of the cave. Her blood was boiling. “MARCELLO!”

***

Lance screeched as he fell over the banister on the third floor. Thankfully Shiro easily caught him on the ground floor. “Whoa, what happened here?”

“I hit myself with a painting.”

“... You need to get that under control.”

“No arguments here my dude.” Lance wriggled out of Shiro’s arms and sighed. “I’m never going to get a handle on my magic, am I?”

Shiro patted his head. “Don’t worry about it. You’re still learning.”

“Being an empath sucks…”

“Maybe you should do some Summoner training instead? It’ll be easier on you.” Said Shiro.

“... Summoner training?”

Shiro nodded. “Yeah. You’ll need to hang out with Keith a lot more. Since you summoned him you have a better chance of forming a bond with him rather than me. I mean, we could do it, but it wouldn’t be as effective.”

“Oh, okay… So where is Keith?”

Shiro shrugged. “Probably swimming in the pond. He seems to like it for some reason.”

“... He’s going to try and drown me.”

“Possibly.”

Lance pouted but headed back out to the pond anyway. He easily spotted Keith floating on his back in the middle of the pond. Lance picked up a stone and skipped it across the pond and struck Keith’s arm. The demon flailed slightly and looked over at Lance, scowling slightly.

Lance waved nervously as Keith swam over to him. “What do you want Lance?” He asked.

“Um… Shiro was saying we should do Summoner magic stuff? I have no idea what that is. Do you?”

Keith shrugged. “Kind of. All Summoners have a bond linking them to the demons tied with them. You give an order and we do it. You tell us to jump and we set a record.”

“... So it’s literally just me giving you orders?”

“It’s more than that.” Said Keith. “You need to be confident in what you’re telling me to do. No hesitation. Be assertive. Like when you ordered me and Shiro to kill the undead and protect Hunk and Pidge.”

“Oh, that…” Lance still wasn’t sure what to make of that night. The voice was his but the words were someone else’s. He had no idea whose words they were, but it kind of scared him. He sighed. “Okay, that’s another magic I can’t do…”

Keith gave him a confused look. “Huh? What are you talking about?”

“When I told you and Shiro to do all those things they weren’t my words. Something was talking through me.”

Hearing that made Keith sit up and take notice. “What? Was that the first time that’s happened? Have you touched anything weird in the house?”

“Not that I know of. I don’t touch the weird things in the house anymore after I summoned you.”

“... You might be possessed by a ghost, or some kind of demon.” Said Keith in an oddly calm manner.

That instantly set off alarm bells in Lance’s head. “What? I’m possessed by something? How do we get it out? Oh fuck I hate possessions!” Panicked Lance. “I can’t stand possession movies! Hell, I can only just stand sci-fi movies with people getting taken over by aliens or parasites! I can’t deal with this shit!”

“Hey calm down.” Said Keith as he quickly got out of the water. “Elves are pretty good at all that balancing magic and shit. We can talk to Allura or Coran. They’d be able to tell if you’re possessed by anything.”

Once lance had calmed down he agreed and the two of them went down to their shop. It took a little longer than usual since Keith didn’t want to take the bus and Lance had to convince him that taking the bus was faster and safer than he thought. Eventually though they did make it to the shop.

Coran was behind the counter today and perked up the second he saw the two of them walk in. “Hello there boys. What can I do for you? Can I interest you in some happiness tea? Maybe a healing balm?”

Keith shook his head. “No thanks Coran. We think that Lance might be possessed.”

“... That’s not good.” Concern was clearly written all over his face. “What makes you boys think that Lance is possessed by something?”

“I said some stuff the other day that weren’t my words.” Said Lance. “It was really… It was my voice but they weren’t my words… And Marcello’s place is full of weird magic stuff so I might have been possessed by some kind of weird ghost or demon thing.”

Coran nodded and looked Lance over with a critical eye. “I see… Well, I won’t be able to do much. Male elves such as myself aren’t very good at telling if someone is possessed, but I can have a crack at it. Allura can do it again when she comes back from her delivery.” He happily patted the counter top. “Come on over my boy and I’ll check you over.”

Lance walked over to him, but was very unsure about what was going to happen. “So… do I need to sit somewhere? Stand in a magic circle? What?”

“Nothing like that lad.” Said Coran as he cracked his knuckles. “I’m just going to put my hands on your face and see if I can pick up anything that might qualify as a possession. If I can’t pick up anything then that means there’s either nothing there, or whatever is possessing you is so powerful that it’s able to hide from me.”

“... Comforting.”

Coran placed his hands on Lance’s face and closed his eyes. After about a minute he took his hands off and shrugged. “Not a clue. You’ll have to wait for Allura to-” She reentered the shop. “Ah, speak of the devil. Allura! Keith thinks something is possessing Lance. Would you be a dear and help the lad out?”

She was a little surprised but nodded. “Sure. Nice to see you boys again. How are you?” The boys muttered their greetings and Allura went to work. She placed her hands on Lance’s face and gently hummed. “... Yes, there is something… But it isn’t a possession… An imprint…” She closed her eyes and let her hand travel down Lance’s arm until she was holding his hand. “Here.”

Lance looked down at his hand, and to no one’s surprise it was the hand with the ring on it. “... So is it like possessed with Marcello’s spirit or something?” Asked Keith.

Allura shook her head as she got a closer look at the ring. “I highly doubt it… Since Lance is an Empath and this ring has been worn by hundreds before him. It’s possible what you think is possession is just you feeling the emotional imprint of those that wore it before you.”

Lance nodded a little. “So does that mean I’m going to keep saying stuff but it isn’t going to be me saying it?”

“You should be attuned to your ring pretty well by now, so only the most powerful imprints will make their way out.”

Lance nodded a little as he thought this over. “Okay, but real talk, will these imprints eventually take me over and start controlling me? I really don’t want to get possessed if I can help it...”

Allura chuckled. “Possessed? Lance these are just imprints. If you started saying things against your will, there’s a chance that one of the people that wore the ring before you was in a similar situation and knew what to do. If anything they were just giving you a little nudge in the right direction. You can’t get possessed by a memory or an imprint.”

“So he’s not possessed?” Asked Keith.

“Highly unlikely.” Said Allura. I mean, if he was possessed by anything it would be the Key that the ring is made from.” Both Lance and Keith shared a look of confusion. “... You two do know what Keys are? Right?”

“I can fill them in.” Said Coran with a twirl of his mustache. “You see, Keys are a tool. An amalgamation of Celestial, Demonic, and Earthly spirits that keep the gates of the heavenly realm and the demonic realm closed and sealed away for all eternity. As the beings that live in the heavenly realm do not frequent earth the gates leading there are practically impossible to open without a Key. Demons on the other hand like to try and wriggle through and cause havoc for one reason or another. They try to pry open the gates and have cracked through using other means. But a Key is the only thing that will for certain rip all the gates off their hinges and allow free passage between all realms.”

Lance looked down at his ring. “Okay… And this is made from the spine of a Key? I knew people said it was made from the spine of a demon but like… What does that mean?”

“A Key is the only demon that can open and close a gate.” Said Coran. They are also said to have the ability to scatter their bones in times of need to prevent people from forcing them to open any gates.” Coran hummed as he thought hard about something. “If I remember correctly if you bring all parts of the Key back together they will open any gate you wish, but only if their bones are all brought together… And Key has roughly… Four thousand, five hundred and twenty trillion bones. They have a lot of bone armor plating and are the size of mountains.”

“Oh…” Said Keith. His eyes were wide as he seemed to reach an epiphany of some sort. “Is that why Haggar is hellbent on getting your ring and the deed to the house? She’s collecting the bones of the Key and that’s one of the last pieces? Then it would make sense she wants the deed to your house too. She could move all the bones there and ask the Key to open the gates of hell while keeping the gates to heaven shut.”

Lance felt the colour draining from his face. “But why would she want the gates of hell opened up in the first place? What does she gain from it?”

Keith shrugged. “Fucked if I know. All I know is that you are technically all that stands in the way of Armageddon.”

“Sounds accurate.” Said Allura, like it was no big deal. “The last time a Key was formed was well before the time of man. Lots of land was shifted and destroyed. Quite a scary time for all involved.”

“Indeed.” Said Coran. “But then shorty later the Key dispersed and that’s how it’s been for thousands of years.” 

Keith nodded. “That actually sounds interesting… I haven’t heard about Key’s before.”

While this was all interesting Lance had completely tuned out when he was hit with the fact that he was apparently the only thing stopping the end times from kicking off. This was too much pressure. Not only was a Warlock, he was in possession of a thing that could end the world. Also, no one seemed shocked or horrified that this was the case. He felt dizzy and felt lightheaded. Lance’s eyes rolled into the back of his head and he fainted.


	25. Marmora Coven

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lance is still trying to get a grip on some bit of is magical powers with limited success. Kudos and comment when you can. Enjoy :D

When Lance woke up he was on the floor. Allura had His head in her lap while Coran was waving some weird smelling herbs under his nose. He groaned a little and slowly sat up. “What happened?”

“You fainted.” Said Coran. “Guess what we were talking about was a bit of a shock to your system huh?”

“Considering I’m the only thing stopping the world from ending I think that’s a little bit of an understatement.” Muttered Lance. “You know what, I am going to buy the strongest alcohol and maybe consider seeing a psychiatrist for all the pressure I am suddenly under! I have a freaking demon spine thing stuck to my body and it won’t let go until I’m dead, And Haggar wants me dead so she can take it!”

“... Would you like some calming tea?” Asked Allura.

“Yes please…” He muttered. Allura and Coran went to get some tea and put stuff away while Keith sat in front of Lance and gave him a slightly concerned look. “... Need something bright eyes?”

Keith frowned slightly and tilted his head. “Are you okay? You were kind of just standing and then… You kind of fell down. Honestly I haven’t seen that before.”

“You’ve never seen a person faint before?”

Keith shook his head. “Nope… But at least we know you’re not possessed by anything crazy. It’s just memory imprints and stuff. So you’re good.” He reached out and patted Lance’s head.

“... Why do I feel like you’re making fun of me?”

“Because you are paranoid?”

“... Hush you.”

Allura came back with a cup of tea for him, which Lance gladly took. After taking a few sips and taking a deep breath he felt Allrua pat his back. “Are you alright now?”

“Yeah… Oh, also apart from the whole Armageddon thing, you guys know anything about Summoning demons and forming bonds and stuff?”

“Unfortunately that’s more of a witches thing.” Said Allura. “While we do sometimes summon other sprites and spirits it’s more of an invitation and they come to us as a choice and not because they have to… You would have to talk to witches about it. Might I suggest talking with the Marmora coven?”

Keith grumbled a little, but Lance nodded in agreement. There was only so much that he could do just by winging it. Witches would probably have some idea about how to actually do some summoning a demon thing.

So once they said goodbye to Allura and Coran, they took the bus to the Marmora law firm. Keith blankly looked around the reception area while Lance went to talk to the woman at the reception desk. He hadn’t seen her before and she was possibly a new hire. 

He walked up to her and smiled. “Hey is Kolivan here today?”

He looked up at Lance and gave him a condescending look. “Do you have an appointment?”

“Well no but-”

“Make an appointment.” She said. She promptly went back to ignoring him.

“... Well is Antok here?”

“Appointment?”

“I don’t have-”

“Make one.”

Lance glared at her. “Okay, how about Krolia? Is she-”

She put her hand up and glared back at him. “Stop. Just stop. Do you have a case? Do you need to see a lawyer? Make an appointment or get out.”

“Hey, I need to see one of them!”

“Do I need to call security?” She snapped.

“What’s going on here?” Asked a man. He was tall and rather gaunt looking and quite frankly looked scary in his suit. He looked around and saw both Lance and Keith before looking back at the woman at the desk. “Well?”

“Nothing.” She said. “These people are attempting to see Kolivan without an appointment.”

The man raised an eyebrow. “And you were just about to call me and let me, Kolivan’s personal secretary, that the single most important client we have on our payroll along with the son or Krolia are here?”

The woman went white and gaped like a goldfish. “W-well I… He didn’t say anything!”

“You were a bitch!” Called Keith from the other side of the room. “You didn’t even ask for his name!”

She was about to say something, but the man quickly cut her off. “Enough. I’ll speak to you manager about this. I do not like you chances continuing with our company if you continue to act this way.” He looked over at the two and gave them a polite nod. “Mr McClain. Mr Kogane. Please follow me.”

As they walked past the front desk Lance heard Keith growling at her. “Bitch.”

When they got into the elevator the man took a card out of his jacket pocket, sliding it through the card reader and drew a symbol with his finger on the floor display. “I am Ulaz by the way. I do not know if you remember me. I helped clean up the estate after the undead incident.”

“Oh, thanks for that.” Said Lance. “... Um… So is it customary to send you guys a fruit basket or something? A fruit basket filled with magic stuff?”

The corner of Ulaz’s mouth curled slightly into a smile. “Don’t worry yourself about it. The dead suddenly rising for any reason is enough cause for us to intervene. Is your home okay now?”

“Yeah. All good. No more undead suddenly knocking at my door.”

“That’s good.”

Keith sighed loudly and leaned against the wall. “So where are you taking us? We obviously aren’t going to any normal floor.”

“Indeed.” He said. “We’re going straight to the coven.”

The doors opened and much to Lance’s surprise it seemed like they were underground. Lance followed Ulaz while he looked around. He noted that the walls looked like they were made from black stone. He glanced over at Keith who seemed to have a slight look of nostalgia in his eyes. 

Now that lance thought about it, Keith was probably born here. His mum was technically human after all. He could just imagine a tiny Keith running around causing trouble for all the witches. It made him smile thinking how the other witches were probably acting like his aunts and uncles. Kolivan probably had to run after baby Keith few times.

Ulaz lead them to a large room covered in tables, couches, and bookshelves. Kolivan was seated in a chair reading a book. He looked over at the newcomers and made a slight surprised sound. “Oh? To what does the Marmora coven owe the pleasure?” He asked. “Or is this just a general visit?”

“Came over to ask some questions about stuff…” Said Lance.

Ulaz nodded a little. “The woman who is in charge of the main reception is a disgrace. Lance came looking for you but didn’t even bother calling me to even check your schedule. Didn’t even ask for his name.”

“I see.” Said Kolivan. “Go ahead and inform her manager of this.” Ulaz nodded and quickly left. Kolivan gestured for Lance and Keith to take a seat on one of the couches. “Please, make yourselves comfortable.”

Lance sat on the couch while Keith pulled several pillows off the couch, piled them on the floor, and flopped onto them. Since Kolivan wasn’t batting an eye, Lance decided to ignore it and instead make awkward small talk. “So… Nice place your coven has here… Is it underground or something?”

Kolivan shrugged. “The demons that gave a damn about the humans they gave power to, made spaces for them to hide away in times of great distress so we wouldn’t die out if something happened… The only way to kill a coven is to destroy the space made by their demon founder.”

“Huh… That’s cool.”

Kolivan nodded and gave Lance a strange look. “So… Why are you boys here? What do you need?”

Lance glanced over at Keith, then back to Kolivan. “So you have summoned demons before, right? Keith and I are trying to build a whole Summoner’s bond kind of thing…” He looked over at Keith who looked completely disinterested in everything that was happening. “Well, I am trying to do the Summoner’s bond thing…”

Kolivan seemed to be a little surprised. “Oh?”

“Yeah, you guys have done some of that stuff before right? I kind of suck at doing any magic that has to do with my Empath stuff… So like… Help would be nice…”

Kolivan nodded and stood up. “Okay. If we are going to do this we will do this properly. Follow me.”

The two of them followed Kolivan down a hall and through a door. They walked through a room filled with a bunch of objects that gave off a weird aura. Hey were probably all magic items in one form or another. He saw things like rune rocks, some old books, some bones, and some stranger things like a blue walkman, a rubber duck, and an umbrella. He wanted to ask about it, but he didn’t think it was the right time.

Kolivan took them to an empty room covered in mats. He gestured to Keith and the demon wandered off around the room. Every once in a while he tumbled forward quickly and kept walking. It was odd but Keith was having fun? Maybe?

“So, what now?” Asked Lance.

Kolivan waved his hand in the air and a small blue vase appeared on a ledge high up on one of the walls. “Each bond between a demon and their Summoner is different. What I want you to do is talk in a normal voice, no shouting, but you have to tell Keith to get the vase for you. Understand? No shouting. Indoor voice only.”

“... Okay?” Lance looked over at Keith who was currently laying on his back over the other side of the room. He was laying on his back with his legs up in the air. “Keith, get the vase.”

Keith didn’t move to get the vase. He just rolled onto his stomach and tapped his fingers against the mat. He looked board.

Lance looked up at Kolivan. “Is this right? Is this what I’m meant to do?”

“You’re doing fine. I’ll go and get you some water. You two might be here a while.” Kolivan left the room and Lance went back to trying to get Keith to get the vase. It didn’t seem like this was working at all.

***

Keith was board. It was strange being here in the coven’s strong hold again. Keith hadn’t been here since he was a tiny kit. He still remembered hiding in small cracks and behind furniture just to spook his dar, sar, and the other witches in the coven. Some of the witches ended up nicknaming Keith the ankle biter.

Not that it wasn’t an accurate representation of him. Keith did jump out and bite people’s ankles. Ankle attacks were his specialty. Probably didn’t help he had very sharp teeth and a very strong jaw, and wouldn’t let go until either his Dar or Sar tickled him and he’d let it go.

He glanced over at Lance and frowned a little. He looked like he was saying something, but he just figured he was talking random crap again. He tended to talk a lot. He was probably nervous about something. Kolivan wasn’t there after all. He probably had no idea what he was doing. Keith had no idea what he was doing.

Maybe when Kolivan came back they could start doing some of this Summoner magic stuff? If not he’d slink off to go and explore the place to see if he could find all the places he used to hide and play in when he was a kit. That would be fun to do.

_The vase..._

Keith instantly perked up and looked around. He knew he heard something.

_Get… Vase..._

Keith frowned and looked around. What vase? Where was there a vase?

_Up… The vase… The vase… Get..._

He looked around and his eyes fell on Lance. He was still over the other side of the room. He tilted his head slightly as he watched Lance’s lips move. The words going on in head quickly synced up with the whispers he was hearing in his head.

_Up there. Get the vase. Get the vase for me. Please._

Keith instantly felt a pull and looked up and saw a little blue vase on a small outcrop in the wall. “... Huh.” Keith quickly climbed up the wall and grabbed the vase before bringing it over to Lance. They man seemed genuinely surprised that Keith brought it over. “You wanted this?”

“... Holy shit, did that work?” Asked Lance. “Did you hear me?”

“Yeah.” Said Keith. He shrugged a little and scratched the back of his head. “Like, I heard a little something. It was easier when I could see you talking. I guess this is part of the whole Summoner’s bond thing? I also felt a little pull. Like the kind that I usually feel when someone summons me and tells me what to do.”

Lance nodded as he looked like he tried to understand what Keith meant. It was nice that he was trying, but he wouldn’t be able to fully understand. “Huh… That’s neat. I guess? So like, you’ll only hear me if I give you an order, right? I doubt you’ll want to hear me talk all the time.”

“Just when you are specifically giving me an order.” Clarified Keith. “... I’m hoping. I haven’t formed a bond with any of my Summoners past the initial pull.”

Kolivan walked back in with two bottles of water. “Oh you two managed to do it already? That’s good. Very good. Here.” He passed them the water and waved his hand to make the vase vanish. “Did you feel the pull? Did you hear Lance telling you want to do?”

“Yeah, something like that. Is that what I’m meant to hear?”

Kolivan nodded and looked back over at Lance. “I just remembered some reading material you might find useful. It’s an old text. Part of a text that was written once parchment was first invented. I believe the title would roughly translate to; Demon Summoning for dummies.”

Keith chuckled a little at the title while Lance was pouting. “Yeah, okay. I’ll have a read of that…”

“Good.” The trio walked out of the room. But while Lance and Kolivan walked back to their room with all their books, Keith took off down a different hall. They didn’t seem to notice at the moment. Which was fine. 

Keith wanted to have a little poke around. He quickly found some old scratch marks he made when he was a tiny kit. It made him feel nostalgic, and kind of happy that they didn’t go ahead and fix it. Eventually he found a door with lots of scratches and some bite marks around the bottom of the door frame. This was his sar’s room. The room she, his dar, and he shared when he was still a kit.

He nervously pushed open the door and looked inside. “Hello?”

No one was in there. He walked into the room and looked around. It was very similar to what he remembered, but with a few modern changes. The modern bedframe and mattress was possibly the most modern thing about this place. That was saying something when there was furniture that was from the early Victorian era still in functional use.

It was a lot different from when he was a kit. There used to be a large nest where the bed was with a cot off to the side. The cot was where is sar used to sleep some nights when her back was too sore to sleep in the nest with him and his dar. Keith remembered very clearly he didn’t like that so he chewed the legs off the cot. Which was why they went and saw Marcello in the first place, since Keith wouldn’t stop chewing everyone and everything that wasn’t is sar or dar… Then again he still bit them every once in a while.

One of the other things he recognised was a rocking chair. It was old and had some woodworm in it, but he remembered being small and climbing all over it. Krolia would get mad at him, but that was probably because Keith kept falling off it because he had no balance at all.

The door opened up and Krolia walked in. “Oh, Keith. When did you get here?”

“A little while ago.” Said Keith. He awkwardly stood there and looked anywhere but her. “Lance needed some help with Summoner magic… I kind of decided to see if anything’s changed… Not much has.”

She smiled a little and walked over to him. “Yeah… I would have kept the nest, but my back hurt too much.”

“Fair enough… So um… How are you?”

“I’m okay. Keeping up with my magic while balancing the complaints of the HR department.” She said. “It’s a fine balancing act.”

“I’d imagine so.”

“... Is Shiro okay? I only got to talk to him for a bit before.” She said. “He seems like a good man.”

“He is a good man.”

She smiled and awkwardly walked a little closer to him. “He is… Um… Keith, I know I haven’t been the best sar in the world and I know you have some resentment towards me because of what happened… I didn’t abandon you. Your dar and I talked extensively about this and we decided it would be best if we separated since we weren’t sure how you would react around me when you hit puberty… I still love you.” 

Keith frowned a little and glanced up at her. She did look sincere and Keith couldn’t smell any deceit on her or an attempt to lie. “I love you too.”

She smiled at him and inched a little closer to him. “Can I give you a hug?”

“... Okay.” Keith reached out and hugged her. Almost in an instant he felt a sense of calm and ease. He closed his eyes and gently nuzzled her neck. He felt safe. He felt calm. He was at home.

Krolia smiled and softly hummed as she gently rocked them back and forth in his arms. “I love you so much Keith… I know you’re still mad at me, but I promise I won’t leave you again.”

“...” Keith didn’t really know what to say to that and just let his mother continue to hold him in her embrace. He wanted what she said to be true. He wanted this heart to heart that the were having to have some meaning. He felt safe here with her. He was her kit. Always would be. He still felt betrayed by her, but he could possibly work on that if she was really going to stay here with him.

Eventually Krolia pulled away and smiled at him. “Now, Lance must be here, right? Let’s head out and find him.”

“Okay.”


	26. Hard to swallow

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some more Marcello shenanigans and both the boys getting wrecked by magic once again. Kudos and comment when you can. Enjoy :D

The two of them eventually found Lance and Kolivan in the coven’s library. Kolivan was bringing more and more books over to the increasingly distressed looking young man. But Lance did perk up a little when he saw Keith and Krolia. It kind of looked like they were going to save him from the hell that was Kolivan’s teaching methods.

“Hey there you two! How are you?” He asked. “Good to see you’re here and-” He tried to get up but Kolivan quickly put his hand on his shoulder and pushed him back into the chair.

“Stay.” He said in a calm, but firm manner. Lance pouted but did as he was told. It made Keith chuckle to see Lance following someone else’s orders. Kolivan turned his attention back to Keith and Krolia. “So you wandered off and Krolia found you I am guessing? Didn’t get into too much trouble?”

“He was fine.” Said Krolia. “Keith didn’t get into any trouble.”

“That’s good.”

“Yeah.” She looked over and Lance. “And this is?”

“I’m getting him to read over the basic fundamentals of Summoning a demon and how to create a strong Summoner’s bond.” Informed Kolivan.

“It is going well?”

“... We are having limited success.” He glanced over at Lance and very slightly redirected Lance’s head towards the book instead of looking up at what they were doing. “Read.”

“I am…”

Krolia chuckled a little. “Kolivan, you’re still not good with young people, are you? Let me help out. Out of all of the blade members I’m probably the most qualified to help Lance out since we are both Empaths.”

Kolivan frowned but nodded in agreement. “Okay. I’m not patient enough for this.”

Krolia nodded and smiled a little at Lance. “Come with me. I think I have an idea about what to do.” She lead the boys back towards the training room but stopped in the room with all the random magical items and relics and objects. “Pick something that you’re drawn to. Take your time.”

Keith watched as Lance walked around the room. When Keith was younger he never really saw the reason for this room. It was weird and none of the magical objects in there were ever able to resonate with him. But they all seemed to resonate with every witch in the coven in one way or another. Keith just didn’t understand it and it frustrated him a lot.

“So…” He said quietly. “What’s the point of this?”

She smiled at him. “Lance is an Empath. When we first start using our magic we always need something with a strong emotional connection to help us use magic. It would be best if he could use something personal or from his home, but this is a good second choice… If Lance’s family home is close by he should probably go there and find something… I wonder what he will close from our collection of oddities?”

Keith hummed a little to himself and kept watching Lance walk around the room. He stopped for a moment at some kind of fancy puzzle box, but kept walking. He stopped at a giant shell, but then kept walking. Eventually he settled on a blue walkman.

When he reached out for it Keith could hear Krolia quickly suck in a gasp of air as the air quickly became tainted with fear. “... Mum?”

She quickly regained her composure and awkwardly cleared her throat. “It’s um… That walkman has a very interesting history...”

Lance walked over carrying it. “This…” He said. “When I tuned everything out I could kind of hear static getting louder when I got close to it.”

Krolia nodded and took the walkman from him. “Of course you chose this… Macrello was the one that made this an object of power after all.”

Both boys were shocked to say the least. Keith took it and quickly turned it in his hands. He hadn’t seen such a new object of power before. It was so weird. He knew Marcello was powerful as hell, but as far as he knew there had to be some really intense feelings implanted into an object to make in an object of power. Something really crazy must have happened to Marcello.

“How did he do that?” Asked Lance curiously.

Krolia sighed a little and took the walkman back off Keith. “Well… Technically this is just one half of an object of power. The cassette that goes along with it was moved somewhere else to stop it from actually being used… So this object came into being because of something very, very stupid Marcello did without thinking…”

***

It had been a very strange day for the witches of the Marmora coven, and it was about to become an even stranger night. For generations they had held a truce with the vampire clan that inhabited the city. They had set up a series of rules that they had both followed to a T to avoid bloodshed. They hardly ever met up, but on the night of a full moon, when the vampires, like many creatures of the night were meant to be at their full power, they got a phone call from the clan.

_”Please… Save us… please…”_

It was a chilling thing to hear from the extremely proud race that usually would never dare call for help. It unnerved Krolia to her core. Kolivan didn’t like this either, but he reasoned that if the vampires were in trouble than pretty soon everyone else would be in trouble too.

So about half the clan made their way to the vampire’s home. A house nestled in between two buildings. Spells and charms had been cast on it to make it unseeable to humans. Well, not fully. It would make it so it was hard to look at unless you were looking for it, and if you were looking for it you were most likely going to become vampire food.

Just crossing the threshold to the property made Krolia’s skin crawl and her stomach twist. Something was not right. As the only Empath of the group she was the only one that could pick up subtle changes where as everyone else had a much harder time unless there was something extremely wrong.

“What do you sense?” Asked Antok.

“Something bad happened here.” She said calmly. “Something much worse than the usual vampire bloodshed and over indulgence… This feels like something akin to an ancient from hell or divine vengeance from the heavenly realm… It’s ancient, it’s raw, it’s powerful…”

Kolivan nodded in agreement. “I can sense something is wrong here too… It’s like the earth has soured under our feet and is bleeding out.” They walked up to the door, finding it ajar. Kolivan pushed it open and inside could only be described as a massacre; blood, guts, and body parts were haphazardly strewn around the room like trash. “This is not good…”

Ulaz, one of the coven specializing in healing magic looked around with disgust and quiet shock. “Are these the vampires or the remains of a blood orgy gone wrong? Isn’t this one of the more powerful clans in the area? Can’t they regenerate themselves? How could they suddenly die like this?”

“Possibly fledglings.” Reasoned Antok. “Young bloods can’t grow body parts back like their mature counterparts… Can you find out what happened Krolia?”

She nodded and touched the wall. She closed her eyes and let the collective feelings and emotions of dozens of vampires paint a picture of the evening for her. There was a man, he seemed human but was not fully human. He came to talk to their Lord about something. Then everyone died.

“A man was going to talk to the Lord of this clan. Then everyone died… There was too much panic to see clearly what it was, but it was able to slaughter everyone in a matter of seconds… It must be some kind of demon. This is too efficient for a simple creature from this realm to pull off.”

Kolivan was not pleased by this at all. “Regris, Antok. You two clear the basement. Ulaz, Thace, clear the ground floor. Krolia and I will take upstairs. If you find anything that isn’t a vampire you must eliminate with extreme prejudice. No acception. If there are vampires still alive collect any information on the thing that did this to them. Our main priority is to find the vampire Lord and what did this to the clan. Understood?”

There was a collective sound of agreement and each group split off to perform a sweep of the house. Krolia felt nauseous the deeper they went into the house. Whenever sudden and violent murders happened she always felt a little woozy. But the stink of ancient and primal emotions made her want to vomit her bones and organs.

In one of the side rooms they could hear heavy breathing. Kolivan gave Krolia a questioning look. She pressed her hand against the wall and felt nothing like the evil that permeated the house. She shook her head and Kolivan opened the door. A young vampire girl was pitifully slumped over, bleeding out from her missing arm and mangled legs.

She looked up at them and laughed a little. “Ha… you actually came… Ha, ha, haaaa… To think the whole clan could let such a thing into our haven. Our little sanctuary… Never in the four hundred years I have existed have I ever seen a thing like that in my life…”

“So you’re an elder?” Asked Kolivan. “Why can’t you grow your limbs back? You should be strong enough to do so, or at least stop your bleeding.”

She smiled up at him with a tired look on her face. “The black saliva that drips from its maw… Somehow it cancels out our regeneration abilities. When it bites you won’t stop bleeding and eventually, even a vampire will bleed out ...”

“What demon did you let into your home?” Asked Krolia. “If we know what it is we might be able to save you and stop your bleeding.”

That just made the vampire laugh some more and cough up some blood. “... Monsters… Humans call us monsters. That we are things from hell. The devil incarnate. Especially the elders. We can transform at will, turn to mist, turn to bats and wolves. We can enchant and enthral… Looking into our eyes is said to be like looking into Hell itself… This thing is hell incarnate. The embodiment of hell and all its wrath… A god of hell…” The girl fell to the floor, finally succumbing to her injuries.

“A god of hell?” Questioned Kolivan. “Is that even possible? We would have known if a demon strong enough to be labeled a god of hell crossed over to our side… Besides, aren’t they only meant to be able to cross over if a gate to hell is open?”

Krolia nodded in agreement. “True. No god of any kind, heaven or hell, should be here… Unless it’s a demi-god or a newly awakened god?”

Kolivan made an annoyed sound. “It better just be a demi-god. We haven’t had to deal with a newly awakened god since the third century.”

“Agreed, but if it is a newly awakened god we should expect a certain Puck to make an appearance soon.”

“I hate that Puck.” He grumbled.

“Hmmmmmmmmmm, you called?” Asked a surprisingly chipper voice. The two turned around to see a very short man wearing a mustard yellow suit. His eyes shone green and purple with mischief.

The two witches nodded at him. “Bob.” Said Kolivan calmly. “It’s been a long time.”

Bob grinned at them, showing off his bucked teeth. Bob was a legend in the fea community. A magical creature so powerful and cunning, so smart and swift, he was able to accumulate so much power he was no longer a puck, but something more. He was a god and was even said to best the pre existing gods in their choice of games and won their respect enough to be called a god himself. This was millions of years before the time of man. He was still an annoying shit stain though. He was a puck after all.

“Why yes it has.” Said Bob. “But you know me. I have a very busy schedule being an all-powerful, all-knowing interdimensional being. But my coworkers think I have the chops to make judgement calls on new gods since I can poof them out of existence if they are just big dumb dumbs. So what god am I giving a job interview to today?”

Despite his carefree nature that should radiate chaotic energy, Bob radiated more of a lawful neutral energy. At least that’s how Krolia felt. He wasn’t a bad person, but he followed the rules that powerful being such as himself governed the universe by.

Kolivan and Krolia followed Bob to a room down the far end of the corridor. The closer they got to it the sicker Krolia felt. The air was thick like molasses and gave off a sour smell like spoiled milk mixed with the heavy scent of blood. 

“What kind of new god has awoken?” She muttered as she took a heavily scented chapstick out from her pocket and rubbed it under her nose. Anything to try and relieve the nausea. “If it was able to do this I don’t think it’s going to be a very kind god.”

“Hmmmmmmmmm, possibly.” Said Bob. “The world is full of many strange things and I think we’re about to see one of those things.” He snapped his fingers and the door at the end of the hall vanished. The room looked like it was a bedroom. Ephesus on was. The mattress was broken and from one wall to the next it was covered in a thick, red and black flesh like material. Vestigial eyes and mouths spasmed from the flesh. 

Crouched on the edge of the mattress was a thing that looked like it might have arms. It was holding what looked like the head of the vampire lord as dozens of mouths ate the vampire’s flesh. The stink of ancient evil with toxic emotions was almost enough to make Krolia faint.

“Oh, you’ve really done it down you big dumb dumb.” Said Bob as they walked onto the room, stepping on the slowly creeping flesh. “Well this is just gross… Oh well. Time to get this interview started.”

They waved their hand and the flesh covering the walls quickly retreated back into the body of this thing. It convulsed as it folded in on itself. Eyes and mouths overlapping and and getting pushed back into the mass over and over again. It was horrific to watch. It reminded Krolia of a lava lamp. Then there was the intangible sounds that this thing was making. It made her skin crawl.

“Is it just making sounds?” Asked Kolivan. “Is this really a new god?”

“Give me a moment.” Said Bob. “Gotta push this all down back into whatever form this was before.” As Bob slowly forced the flesh back into its original human form parts started to become slowly recognisable; fingers, feet, a back and finally a face.

Krolia gasped in shock. “Marcello? Oh no...”

Indeed it did appear to be the warlock Marcello, and he was writhing in agony. How the hell was this even possible? This couldn’t be the start of him becoming a god. It had to be come form of corruption happening to him. When was the last time Marcello purified himself? It had to have been years.

“This is corruption.” Said Kolivan. “This isn’t the birth of a new god… This is… He’s too far gone…”

Bob pouted and continued to work his magic. “Excuse me? How many gods have you seen created? Marcello’s body is trying to be a new god… but he’s a little too old and damaged for it.” He clenched his fist and all the corruption was squeezed back into Marcello. “And back to normal.”

Marcello gasped and coughed. Thick drops of blood and gunk was leaking out of his mouth, eyes, ears, and nose. “Oh fuck…” He whimpered. “Oh fuck… What the fuck happened? Fuuuuuuuck…”

“Easy there dumb dumb.” Said Bob. He smiled at Marcello and patted his head. “Sorry about all that, but I suggest that you find some way of expelling all that corruption in you soon. Your body isn’t young enough to birth a new god. At this rate you’ll just birth an insane god that’ll have to be killed.”

“... Oh.” He sat up and looked around. “Crap, I killed the whole coven didn’t I? Shit… To think that all happened because he threatened me...”

Bob frowned a little. “Huh. All over a little threat? Yeah, no. Sorry dumb dumb, but you fail the interview.” They slapped Marcello’s forehead and for a moment a symbol appeared on their forehead before it vanished.

“What did you do?” Asked Kolivan. 

“I locked him down.” Said Bob with a shrug. “Any new god that failed their interview gets put on lockdown. Marcello, while he has the power and spirit to make an extremely powerful god, his physical body is much too old. New gods need to be young. Very young. For humans the cut off is definitely in their early to mid twenties. Anything older and the gods form breaks down and becomes a mindless monster.”

Marcello nodded slowly. “I see… So I have the power but not the body… that is… It is a strange thing… Crap, I can’t summon a sin-eater at this rate… I’ll need to do something else...”

***

“And so he used the walkman to convert all his corruption into a physical form.” Said Krolia. “Then after Marcello said some stupid things Kolivan took the walkman away from him.”

“What happened to the tape?” Asked Keith. 

She shrugged. “Marcello said he put it in a place where no one would be able to use it and somewhere he wouldn’t be able to get it unless he wanted to walk through hell to get it.”

Lance nodded and kept looking at the walkman. “So I should pick something else?”

“If it called to you then you should use it.” She said calmly. “It should be fine to use since the cassette isn’t in it anymore.”

“And how do I use it?”

“That is up to you. I have no idea how to use a walkman.”

Lance sighed and started to press the buttons on the walkman. “Fun… Now I gotta figure out how to use some demon god, purging, cassette thing… I should be getting paid for this.”

While Lance was fiddling with the walkman and Krolia was trying to give him some advice, Keith was more interested in the cassette. What did Marcello’s corruption look like in cassette form? From what he remembered and from what he knew Keith couldn’t help but drool a little at the thought. Something so corrupt that it could make a demon god? It had to just be dripping with lust. He wanted to eat it so fucking badly. Something like that would probably satisfy him forever and an eternity. He’d never have to eat again if he found it.

He glanced back over at Lance. He was now wearing the foam headphones while he pressed buttons. Suddenly he pressed a button and his eyes flashed blue. “Whoa…”

Keith jumped a little in surprise. “You okay?”

Lance slowly nodded and took it off. “That was… How long was I out?”

“A second.” Said Krolia. “I’m guessing you felt it?”

“Oh, I did more than feel it… I was like gone for a good hour or two.” Lance seemed really out of it. “Like… I wasn’t here at all…”

Keith nodded slowly and took the walkman away from him. “Okay, I think that’s enough magic for Lance for one day. Probably not good for someone like him to be exposed to so much magic stuff when he’s never been doing this stuff before…”

“I think I’m still tripping…” Muttered Lance. He didn’t look very good.

Krolia reached out and steadied him as she carefully moved him so he was sitting down. “... Probably had some residual sin left over from when Marcello used it.” She looked up at Keith and gestured for him to crouch down. “Lance probably got a hard hit of sin by mistake. Can you please help him?”

“Oh, um, okay.” He sat down next to Lance and pushed some of his hair out of his face. “You okay with this?”

Lance was still very clearly out of it. “Huh? Yeah. Whatever. I don’t fucking know magic crap I’ve done to myself now… Fuck…”

Keith nodded a little and very gently cradled Lance’s face in his hands. “It’s okay Lance. Just let me take care of you. It’ll be just like before. Remember?”

The poor guy just stared up at Keith with slight confusion. “Huh?”

“... Okay.” Keith quickly pulled Lance into another kiss and sucked the air right out of his lungs. Keith was expecting to taste the familiar sweetness of lust but instead the gamey taste of wrath quickly flooded his senses. It was a shock to Keith’s system. Marcello was a pervert with an insatiable libido. Why was he tasting wrath? Wrath shouldn’t be here. Why was it here? He wasn’t used to eating wrath as strong as this. He was going to be sick. He quickly pulled away and started coughing and hacking up a lung. It was disgusting. He might as well have been drinking piss out of an ashtray.

“Keith!” His sar’s hands were quickly on him and patting his back. “Are you okay?”

“Y-yeah…” Groaned Keith. “What about Lance?”

“...” Krolia quickly went back over to Lance and started to pry his mouth open. “Spit it out! Spit it out now!”

Keith quickly looked over and watched as Lance wretched and spat out a large black and red blob. It hit the floor and started to wriggle a little, but before it could do much else Krolia said a spell and sit it on fire. The blob hissed and squealed before it turned to ash.

“... The fuck was that?” Asked Lance in mild disgust.

“Sin.” Said Keith. “If I suck it out of your lungs I have to solidify it to swallow it and feed… I couldn’t stomach that thing.”

“... Well that’s fucking reassuring.” Muttered Lance.

Krolia sighed. “Okay, Lance definitely needs to take a break… And Keith? Go and see Thace in the medbay. He should be there since Ulaz is still working.”

“Huh? Why?”

“You’re a Sin-eater and couldn’t stomach sin. Why do you think you’re going to see him?”

“Oh…” She was right. This was not good.


	27. Astral Plane

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And more crazy demon shit happens. Kudos and comment when you can. Enjoy :D

As soon as Lance had put the walkman in and hit the right button Lance felt like he had been thrown out of his body and into an inky void. It felt like he was simultaneously getting thrown while getting held in place. The entire experience was completely disorientating, but eventually it stopped when he felt his body hitting something.

Lance groaned a little as he rubbed his eyes. He felt dizzy. He felt sick. Everything in his head felt foggy. Every thought that ran through his head took minutes to process. Everything felt like it was malassos. Looking around it seemed like he was standing at the edge of the pond on his property. In the dark it looked like he was standing in front of a black mirror that only reflected the moon.

The moon hung extremely low in the sky. Abnormally so. It should never be that close to the earth. It was like a giant egg waiting to crack or something. Without thinking he walked forward into the water. He walked across the water towards the moon. It was like he was walking on glass.

When Lance finally felt like he was close enough, he reached out and tried to touch the moon. But when he was just about to reach it he fell through the water and deep into the pond. Really, really deep. Abnormally deep. She shouldn’t be sinking this deep onto a pond. He felt the cold and feathery pond weeds brushing against his skin, but when he looked at the weeds they didn’t look like weeds at all. 

They kind of looked like hands. No, they were hands. Thousands of hands. Probably millions. As soon as he realized what they were they grabbed at him and forcefully dragged him down deeper and deeper into the dark water. Lance did struggle as best he could, but his mind was still foggy and slow.

Before he knew it the hands and completely wrapped around him and rendered him blind. Around him he heard something that sounded like furniture being moved around. When the hands moved away from his eyes Lance was able to assess his situation. He was stuck in a chair being held in place by the hands, but now they looked more skeletal but fleshy. It was like someone had stripped the meat away from the bones. In front of him was a long table with a single golden chalice on it. 

Lance struggled to get out of the chair but found he was stuck tight. He saw something move out of the corner of his eye. Lance watched in horror as a deathly pale creature with extremely long limbs pulled itself out from under the table directly across from him. The thing was practically skin and bones with a sack tied around its head.

It towered over him and the table, but deliberately contorted awkwardly over the table and crawled over to Lance. It snatched the chalice up along the way. Lance couldn’t see its eyes but Lance felt like this thing was staring into his soul. 

The creature then lifted its fingers to its throat and ripped it out. Thick black and red blood sprayed across Lance as it rushed down the things body. It then gleefully collected the blood in the chalice until it was practically overflowing. When it got to that point the creature pressed the cup to Lance’s lips and tried to get him to drink. Lance pressed his lips tightly together and refused to drink.

The creature growled and the hands holding Lance in place quickly moved around to forcefully pry Lance’s mouth open, even going as far to hold down his tongue. When his mouth was open the creature quickly dumped its foul tasting blood down Lance’s throat.

It tasted the same way wet garbage smelled. Lance wanted to vomit it back up, but the creature clamped its hand over Lance’s mouth and stroked his throat till he had swallowed some. It then repeated the same process three more times until it eventually collapsed and died of blood loss. Lance coughed, hacked, and wretched, but he couldn’t vomit it back up. At least it was over now. Right?

Something started moving from under the table. Another creature the same as the first crawled out. The only difference between this one and the first was that its head was wrapped in bandages. It shoved the first creature aside, picked up the chalice, took up the same position as the first creature, ripped out its throat, and forced Lance to drink its blood. When it died there was another to take its place, and another after that, and another, and another. A never ending line of demons hellbent on Lance consuming their rotten blood.

Between his hacking and choking he’d hear the things started whispering and murmuring a few words to him. He’d have rather have been forced to endure it in silence rather than hearing them all talking to him.

_”Just one more cup.”_

_”Good boy.”_

_”Just swallow it already.”_

_”Time to get to work.”_

_”Swallow.”_

_”Just a little bit more.”_

One particularly grotesque looking demon wearing an opaque plastic bag with a few rips in it around its head seem to take a particular, sadistic interest in him. It almost playfully yanked on the skeleton hands holding Lance’s mouth open. It almost chuckled when Lance winced in clear pain. Like the others it slit its throat, filled the chalice, and forced Lance to drink its blood.

_”No more games. Time to get to work.”_

***

That apparently only took a second, but it felt like hours to Lance. He still felt like throwing up and followed Keith and Krolia to the medbay Lance sat on a chair and was given a bucket while one of the other witches of the coven, a man named Thace, was cleaning up.

He wasn’t the resident doctor, that was Ulaz, but Thace was still a competent healer and was more than happy to try and help Keith. He looked through a few books and nodded a little to himself before grabbing a small flashlight and a paddle pop stick.

“Okay Keith.” He said. “Open your mouth as wide as you can.” Keith opened his mouth, but Thace shook his head. “No. I said as wide as you can. Unhinge your jaw.”

Keith grumbled and opened his mouth as wide as he physically could, showing off the strange teeth and insect legs that lined his demonic maw. Lance still found it extremely creepy. Thace just hummed to himself as he shone the light into Keith’s throat and started taking notes. Keith just looked annoyed and made a slight gagging noise when Tace scraped something out of his throat.

Lance cringed a little and looked over at Krolia. She was watching Thace work but did manage to glance over at Lance in time to catch his eye. “You are wondering if I can do that too?”

“... Kind of.” Admitted Lance. “You’re meant to be beast blooded and stuff, right?”

“I’m only able to transform my body when I’m under great emotional distress.” Said Krolia calmly. “Being an Empath I am able to do it a lot more than most of the other witches here.” She chuckled a little. “The first time I was able to transform the coven was in Japan. We were trying to find ingredients for a rare potion but our group was attacked by a samurai… After that I transformed and when I’m in my beast form the rest of the coven tends to call me fake Tsuchigumo.” 

“... They do what now?”

“It means earth spider.” Informed Krolia. “Tsuchigumo. It's similar to the Jorōgumo, but Tsuchigumo can be either male or female while the other are always very beautiful women. Some of my more spider traits happened to make their way into Keith. Since he is mostly a demon he doesn’t need to put in any effort into using the gifts he inherited from me.”

“Huh… That makes sense I guess.” He groaned a little and gently clutched the bucket. “You guys have anything for a queasy stomach?”

“Right. I’ll look for something.” Krolia went to look through the cabinet at the back of the room. 

Moments later Ulaz walked in and looked slightly annoyed that everyone was touching his stuff. “Anyone care to explain what is going on?”

Krolia looked over at him. “Lance tried to use the walkman object of power.” She explained. “There was still a lot of negative energy in it and infected Lance with a lot of sin. Sin that Keith couldn’t stomach. So now we are here.”

Ulaz quickly became concerned. “I see… This isn’t good…” He walked over to Krolia start to look through the cupboard. He took out a little yellow bottle and gave it to Lance. “Here. Take two drops of this and brace yourself. You will get very sick.”

“Thanks…” Lance took two drops from the yellow bottle and quickly vomited into the bucket. He was shaking and vomiting violently. Krolia was quickly by his side and gently patted his back and rubbed small circles in a soothing manner.

“That’s it.” She said calmly. “Just let it all out.”

When Lance stopped vomiting he did feel a little better. “What was that?” He asked as Ulaz took the bucket. 

“Just a little something to completely clear your body of any residual sin that Keith was unable to swallow before he himself got sick.” He waved his hand over the bucket and the contents burst into flames. “Sin, like most poisons is neutralized or at least their negative effects are lessened when spread through a body, but when it’s solidified it can become toxic. Which is why you probably were feeling so sick before... You still have a lot of that sickness still inside you right now and that will have to be treated carefully over the next few weeks,”

“Oh, okay…”

Ulaz walked over to Thace and took over his examination of Keith. He looked over the notes the other witch made and nodded. “Okay. What did the sin taste like?” He asked Keith.

“Gamey.” Said Keith. “But like, really rotten meat kind of game. The stuff that even a scavenger wouldn’t touch even if it was dying of hunger.”

“And the sin you usually eat is?”

“A lot sweeter than that.”

Ulaz nodded and wrote a few more notes down. “Okay, so initial diagnoses is indigestion and mild reflux. Take some antacids and you should be fine. I’d also suggest you start eating more sins. You need to get used to the taste of other sins. It isn’t healthy for you to go after just one kind.” He handed Keith a green bottle. “Drink.”

Keith grumbled but drank the whole bottle. “Gross… Tastes like mint…”

Ulaz just shook his head, picked up a book and went back to Lance. “Okay. Now I would like to ask you some questions about the walkman you used.”

“Um, okay?”

“So, did Krolia explain how Marcello used it to purge the corruption from his body?”

Lance nodded. “She gave us the basic info, like how he killed a group of powerful vampires to do it and stuff.”

“Good. So I won’t have to go into detail about that.” Ulaz started to flip through his book. “Okay, now you would have experienced your soul leaving your body and traversing the astral plane.”

“So that’s what it’s called?” Asked Lance. He wasn’t going to try doing any astral projecting any time soon if that was the case.

“Yes.” Ulaz hummed a little and kept looking through the book. “So, did you see anything while you were there? Any demonic things?”

“Um… Long skinny pale things with stuff over their faces?”

Ulaz quickly flipped through the book. “So were there a lot of them?”

“Hundreds.”

Ulaz quickly looked through his book and nodded as he pointed to a page. “Vehementi impetu, or the violent force.” He informed. “They are usually a simple minded force that usually go along with the wills of stronger creatures in the astral plane… Did they make you eat or drink anything?”

“... They made me drink their blood.” The witches shared a concerned look when he said that. “What? That was bad wasn’t it?”

“Do you know how many there were exactally?” 

Lance shrugged. “A few hundred? A thousand? I couldn’t really count. My mind was really messed up and I really didn’t know what was going on.”

The witches shared another concerned look before Ulaz cleared his throat. “Take it easy for the next few days. Try not to get too stressed about it. Take a nap. It’ll be fine… But if anything happens just let us know right away. Okay?”

“Okay?” They totally were keeping something from him. It annoyed Lance, but he was too tired to give a damn right now. “So what about the walkman? Can’t try using it anymore?”

“No it will be fine now.” Said Ulaz. “No one has actually used the walkman since Kolivan brought it here. We all know what it was used for and to be honest, we were a little worried about what residual sin might still be connected to it. But it should be fine to use now that all that happened.”

“So I was just a guinea pig? Thanks guys.” 

Ulaz shrugged and patted his shoulder. “Go and lie down. You’ll feel better when you do. Promise.”

“... Okay. Fine.” Lance was a little reluctant but ended up lying down on one of the medbay beds. Almost instantly he fell asleep.

***

Once Lance was down Thace let out a small sigh and flexed his fingers. “Okay, we have about twenty before my sleep spell wears off. What are we going to do about the Vehementi impetu? They don’t do that kind of stuff because they can.”

“This is very troublesome.” Muttered Ulaz. “They only attack someone in the astral plane when provoked, but they rip the soul apart. Not that. Something has to be pulling the strings.”

Keith awkwardly cleared his throat. “Um, anyone going to explain this to me more in depth? I don’t know about the astral plane.”

“It’s a tricky place to define.” Said Krolia. “When someone dies be they human, fae, demon, or celestial they either become attached to something like a house or an object and become a ghost, or they go to the astral plane. One could argue that it is the after life and in a way it is, but your mind is stripped and the body is twisted. Pretty much everyone who has died eventually becomes a Vehementi impetu. They become violet and rip apart any poor soul that provokes them, unless under the direct influence of something stronger from the astral plane or from the land of the living.”

Keith nodded along as he tried to make sense of what she was saying. “So in other words the fact that Lance didn’t instantly die is an indication that something was controlling the Vehementi impetu?” Asked Keith. “What could do that? Why were they pouring their blood into Lance’s mouth? Could that even do anything to him since it wasn’t his physical body?”

“Honestly? We have no idea.” Said Thace. “The only reason we even go to the astral plane is for meditation reasons since they just destroy everything. Regris knows the most about the astral plane. He spent a week there just to observe what was there. From what he documented that place does have a few other creatures running around that are like the Vehementi impetu, but are larger… He might have a theory about what they were doing to Lance.”

“And what do you guys think?” Asked Keith. He looked over at Lance in concern. He was ridiculously weak, but he did have some potential, even if that potential was squandered by his stupidity. He honestly didn’t want Lance to fail. He wanted him to get better at magic.

“Vehementi impetu are stripped down to their base emotions.” Said Ulaz. “Most people do not die peacefully. If they are stripped down to their base emotions than they would have been forcing Lance to consume everything negative inside them… Though I am unsure what their endgame could be… It could be as simple as corrupting him or something more sinister, like trying to hijack his body so they could come back to the world of the living.”

“So what do we do now?” Asked Keith.

“You’re a sin-eater.” Said Ulaz. “Eat his sin, but in small installments over a few weeks. Only as much as you can stomach until you are sure it is all gone. Lance is your Summoner. You have some responsibility to keep him alive… But you have to inform us if anything happens to him that you can’t explain or understand. You might need help dealing with his condition… We must be cautious, okay?”

Keith nodded in agreement. “Okay.” He could do that. He did have a sense of duty when it came to getting summoned by a witch or warlock. He could look after Lance for as long as he needed to be looked after.

Krolia smiled softly at him and gently patted his head. “You’re a good kit.”

“... Not a kit.” There was no bite in his words. He was actually kind of happy that his Sar was calling him a good kit, if not a little weird.

“Still a good demon.” She said. Krolia looked over at Lance and sighed a little. “... He should be okay.”

“... Is using the walkman thing still a good idea?” He asked. Keith was still very skeptical about using anything that would force someone to have their soul flung out into the astral plane.

“It should be fine now.” Said Thace. “Most of its power is non existent without the cassette that goes with it. Other cassettes could probably be played in it, but it’s nowhere near as useful without the original curse cassette.”

“What would happen if someone listened to the original cassette?” He asked.

“Nothing.” Said Thace. “The walkman is a lock and the cassette is a key. The walkman and cassette alone would play music without any problems but when put together… We can only assume that if someone were to listen to the cassette in that walkman they would instantly be filled with enough sin that they would become fully corrupted, or a new god. But only if they made all other physical and mental requirements. If not… It’s the forest of Dean all over again.”

The other witches made annoyed sounds as they agreed with him. “If we can avoid that I would appreciate it.” Muttered Ulaz. “I do not need to try and regrow everyone’s limbs only for them to get cut off again half a second later…”

Krolia nodded in agreement and quickly explained. “Some demon had sex with a woman and they had a child. The child quickly became a demi-god which the demon was going to use to try and locate the third gate to hell. The McClain estate was not discovered until very recently. It was a bloody massacre. Like a small taste of what humanity could expect of Armageddon where to start.”

“We should cut this short.” Said Thace. “The spell is almost over.”

Krolia nudged Keith and gestured him to go over to Lance, which he reluctantly did. He sat by Lance and watched him slowly start to stir. He still looked a little pale and kind of sick. He also smelled a little weird too. Not used to the smells of pride he was used to from Lance. He wanted to reach out and comfort him, but he had never been good at that. The best he could do what he had been told and eat Lance’s sin slowly over the course of a few days.

Lance’s eyes slowly fluttered open and he sighed. “So… Did I actually sleep or was I out of it for a second?”

“You were out for twenty.” Said Keith quietly. “We should go home now. You’ll feel better sleeping in your own bed.”

“Yeah, probably…”

“I can take you home.” Said Krolia.

“You don’t have to.” Said Lance.

“I need to pick up some things from the pharmacy anyway.” She said. “It’s no trouble.” She gestured for the two to follow him and they followed Krolia back to the elevator. When they got to the elevator she hit the button to the staff car park. When the doors opened up they were there. Krolia ushered the two of them into the car and drove them home.


	28. Other Agenda

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mostly just what everyone else is up to at the moment with a sprinkling of klance at the end. Kudos and comment when you can. Enjoy :D

The afternoon sun beat down upon the land during the end of spring. It was the time of year that everyone and everything and lulled into a sense of carefree calm. However there was no calm here. The floral smells of nature that usually permeated the air were drowned out by the thick, pungent smell of fresh blood and Honerva was laying in the middle of her own puddle of the red stuff.

How could this have happened? Their small settlement was founded by a small group of witches that included herself and her husband, Zarkon. They were simple farming folk that had simply prayed to what they had assumed was an earth deity that truly loved and cared for them. That was a lie. The stab wound in her back and the spear in her husband’s chest had been proof of that. They were lied to. Their god didn’t care for them. Only what they could offer; food, wine, materials. Anything it had asked of them they gave, but when they needed salvation they weren’t there.

They came from over the hills and indiscriminately cut down everyone for supposed heresy. How could they have been heretics if the gods that they were told ruled the world did fuck all? They were tricked. They were lied to. There was nothing. There was no one. No one was there to save Zarkon when he got run through and collapsed next to her. No one stopped her guts from getting spilled with a bronze sword. No one in the coven had strong enough magic to heal these wounds.

Zarkon gurgled something next to her she couldn’t understand and reached out for her with a shaky hand. Zarkon had always been a kind man to her. He loved her like no other man did. He appreciated her mind as much as he did her body, if not more. Fat lot of good she was to him in the end. She reached out towards him. Neither of them had the strength to pull the other to their body for a final embrace, but the could at least touch the other’s hand one more time. However, before the tips of their fingers could touch, Zarkon went limp and the light left his eyes. He was gone and Honerva was left alone. 

Betrayed by her god and forced to die alone. A burning hatred slowly swelled inside her. They all needed to die. She would sell her soul to anyone if it would mean saving her coven and her love. She didn’t care what the price she had to pay. She would forgo her pacifist ways and take back what was hers.

When she finally succumbed to her wounds and fell into the nothingness she thought it was all over. That this was it. Her last few conscious thoughts were that of anger, but when she met the real god she would do everything in her power to destroy the god that took everything from her.

There was darkness for what seemed like forever before bright lights suddenly appeared in the sky. Thousands of shades of green, blue, and whote. It was like stars in the sky. It was beautiful, but at the same time depressing. Was this heaven? Was this hell? Honerva wanted to scream.

_”Honerva…”_ Echoed the voice of a thousand people in unison. _”Do you know where you are? Do you know what happened?”_

“... I’m dead, right?”

_“That is correct.”_

“So does that make you god?” She asked the voices.

_“In a way we are.”_

Anger bubbled up inside her chest. “You… You’re responsible for everything! Because of you my coven is gone! Zarkon is gone! I’m gone! Everyone is dead because of you!”

The voices laughed in unison. _“Honerva, please listen. We are not that kind of god. Right now we aren’t even a true god at all… Marmora saw to that…”_

“... Who are you?”

_“We are Daibazzal.”_ They said. _“We are a god of what you would call hell. We wished to explore the realm of man, but our younger kin imprisoned us here in the astral plane while our body is forced to sit in an artificial slumber until a gate of hell is opened. If a gate is opened the fine barrier between all realities and realms is weakened. That includes the realm we are stuck in now. We will be free to return to our body and we will destroy what Marmora has taken from us. The earth is rightfully ours. Not theirs.”_

It almost made Honerva laugh. A god getting betrayed by another god? Backstabbing was a theme around here, wasn’t it? “So what?” She asked. “What do I care of your fucking story? How the fuck does any of this help me?”

_“We want to make a deal. We want you to start a new coven in our name. We will bring you and Zarkon back to life with no injury. Not even as the undead. All you would need to do in exchange would be to bring us home.”_

“Home?”

_“We have always considered earth our home when compared to hell. Bring us home and we will give you power and knowledge beyond your understanding. We will give you everything you desire. Do we have a deal?”_

Honerva didn’t need to think twice about the deal this new god had proposed. If it gave her the ability to do what she wanted then she would do it. “Deal.”

***

Honerva woke up with a jolt. It had been a while since she had that dream again. She hardly ever dreamt of the first time she died. The mental strain of dying once really messed with her head, but she had a debt to pat. Daibazzal had kept their promise where others had failed her. 

She got out of bed, got dressed and walked into the deeper parts of the coven’s base. Today, Zarkon had to be seen in the office for some investment meeting so Haggar had free reign in the deepest parts of their coven’s base. Within a chamber above where they kept their prisoners there was a maze. This particular maze was the fault of one Marcelo McClain. Of course.

During one of the last fights he had with him the warlock had dropped a cassette. They had picked it up and taken it back to their coven to inspect properly. They put it inside a cassette player and in an instant the entire floor got turned into a fucking maze. Fucking cursed cassette. They were still trying to figure out how the fuck they were meant to change it back. Also, they couldn’t figure out where the cassette was anymore.

Lotor had hypothesized that it was a puzzle of some sort and if they could figure it out then they could put the floor back together. Most of his resources in the company that they were running were being put towards figuring out this puzzle. Honerva and Zarkon had a more direct approach. The prisoners that they caught that they didn’t let Sendak destroy both physically and mentally were put in the maze. 

They had a few people they could use for this. She made her way down to the maze. When she got there Lotor was already there moving things around in his 3D maze model he had constructed from the data they had collected. He was still moving pieces around in the puzzle. He still had no idea how all the pieces went together, but he was still trying. 

He hardly acknowledged her when she had walked in. Not that Honerva could blame him. She hadn’t been the best mother. She had always been preoccupied with her work to really mother him. She had left that to the other members of their coven, like Dayak. She was more of a mother to him than she was at this point.

“Lotor…”

He glanced over at her and nodded, but otherwise kept his eyes on his work. “Am I speaking to Honerva or Haggar this morning?”

“...” She tried not to let it get to her. “Honerva.”

“I see. Good morning Honerva. I trust that you slept well?”

“Yes… How is the maze coming along?”

Lotor shrugged. “At this point I’m willing to conclude that this floor of our coven is lost completely. There doesn’t seem to be much of a method to this madness.” He admitted. “The closer we get to the center of the maze the more erratic it becomes. The outer parts are easy enough to navigate, but the center… Hallways keep expanding and shrinking. There are rooms with thousands of doors. There is no feasible way of navigating it. We have even tried using frequency and resonance to try and see if that did anything… But no such luck. I do not understand it…”

She shrugged. “Don’t you have an intern for that? What did you tell them?”

“Miss Holt? Ezor has her believing it’s some kind of virtual reality game made to help people with their memory. But she said it’s glitchy and randomly generated so that she won’t question some of the more bizarre designs at the center.”

Honerva nodded a little. Lotor seemed to have things under control here. She had other things she could be doing. Like trying to figure out how to kill Lance already. Fucking Warlock.

***

Ever since the undead attack on the house Pidge had been working with Kolivan and the rest of the Marmora coven. They wanted any intel she could give them on potentially dangerous things that they could be creating. They had been particularly interested in the prosthetic arm that they had attached to Shiro’s body. Obviously it was more man made since it involved a lot of human technology, but it seamlessly shifted from human to lion form. That was definitely something caused by magic. That and the fact they couldn’t detach it from his body at all.

To help protect Pidge from getting discovered Kolivan cast a spell on her to erase her memory of her mission to gather intel when she is in a certain proximity of their coven. When she left she would retain all the information and be able to relay anything that was useful to the Marmora coven to Kolivan.

While Pidge didn’t truly remember what she needed to do for them when she was at their office, she did get slight hints. Just little nagging feelings when certain things were talked about or mentioned around the office. When that happened she couldn’t help but become hyper focused on it. This was one of those times. Ezor had sat her down in an office chair and given her a VR system.

“Okay lab rat.” She said. “Today you’re gonna test out a super early alpha of a game we’re developing. Lots of bugs in it, but it’s basically this giant maze and your goal is to get to the middle. We’ll track your path and see how often you back track and stuff. Play it as long as you like. Okay?”

“Okay. Sounds cool.” Pidge put on the headset and happily started to go through the maze. As far as she knew she was just some little floating robot going through the halls. She had to admit that the graphics for this were very good. She didn’t understand how the graphics could be this good in something that was supposedly meant to be something like a pre alpha.

Pidge didn’t really mind though. She was happy enough to play this while letting her mind wander. It was kind of calm and relaxing walking down the endless hallways. Things had not been going too well for the people on the house lately. 

First of all; Lance was totally stressed all the time and no matter what he did magic always seemed to backfire on him. Hunk was constantly anxious but not telling anyone about it because he was too nice to let everyone else worry about him. Shiro, while a nice guy, was very spaced out when he was alone. He just wandered around the place in his Manticore form and slept in sunny spots. Keith was constantly getting in trouble or playing video games. They were a really weird group.

This was stressing her out. She didn’t know how she felt about all this. She had just learnt that magic was a thing. Pidge had always grounded herself in science. Magic was just a fantasy. She wanted science to be the main force in the universe. Not magic. It was stressful but she had to roll with the punches.

She rounded the corner in the VR game and almost walked into a wall. She’d reached a dead end. This was a really strange maze.

***

Hunk was stress baking. He wasn’t hungry at all. He was just… stressed. He wasn’t used to all this magic stuff. He just wanted to finish his culinary classes and be happy but damn it was getting hard. Magic was one thing but he didn’t like getting attacked by magic things. 

This was stupid. Lance was the one stressing out the most out of all of them. He was a warlock and kind of got forced into this position in the first place. It was pretty fucked up. Lance just wanted to complete his classes and get his diploma, but that was starting to look less and less like that was going to happen.

He sighed and put down his mixing bowl. Hunk had been practicing making brownies in the school’s kitchen. Some other students were practicing making food too. Their teacher was pretty good about students practicing their skills. Hunk was one of three people in the kitchen. Two of them were guys attempting to fix up stake game. The other person was a tall girl making creme brulee. 

She took it out of the oven and sprinkled each one with brown sugar before looking around for the brulee torch. “Oh…” She mumbled. “Um… Where did I? … On no…”

Hunk looked over at her work station and noticed the brulee torch hidden behind a book she was using to read her recipe from. He cleared his throat to get her attention. “I think it’s behind the book.”

The girl quickly looked behind the book and let out a sigh of relief. “Thanks Hunk.”

He smiled at her. “Hey, no problem… I’m sorry, I don’t remember your name…”

“It’s Shay.” She said with a smile. “Don’t worry about it. I usually stay up the back since I’m so tall.” She fiddled with the torch for a bit before looking sheepishly over at him. “Um, would you mind helping me? I always end up burning them, and you’re like the best person in the class when it comes to baking.”

That made Hunk blush. Okay, she was just flattering him and probably just needed help with this, but he was okay. He was always happy to help. “Sure. let me just get my own torch and I can show you what to do.”

He found one hand happily demonstrated to Shay how to properly caramelize the sugar. Shay had made four creme brulee so she was able to have three goes at it. One ended up being very burnt, but the other two turned out much better. Shay smiled at him and quickly took some photos of her food. After that she stuck around with Hunk while he continued to make his brownies.

They got to talking and Hunk was happy to find that he and Shay had a lot in common. It was a breath of fresh air talking to her. It made him smile and forget about all the crazy shit that had happened over the past few weeks. Needless to say they ended up exchanging phone numbers and food before they left the kitchen.

***

Shiro was coping pretty well considering everything that had happened. He had taken to going for long walks in the house and around the property. He had thought about going for walks by himself outside the McClain estate, but he didn’t feel comfortable doing that in his human form without someone being with him. Bad things happened when he was alone without his pack.

For several hours Shiro had stayed inside the greenhouse. Recently Lance and Keith had cleaned up the broken glass and had even taped some garbage bags over the broken panels. It was nice. Shiro really appreciated their efforts. Lance was really going above and beyond compared to other humans that usually summoned demons. Granted they were usually just summoned to kill something and then go. They weren’t really around as long as Lance had kept them. It was almost like Lance was trying to be part of their pack.

That thought made Shiro chuckle. If Lance wanted to be part of their pack then he and Keith would have to talk it over. Being part of a pack was a very big deal, though he’d be lying if he said he wasn’t excited for the day Keith decided to bring a potential mate into their pack. He was kind of hoping that would happen soon. He liked having a kit around. He’d be a good uncle.

When the sun finally started to set Shiro made his way back into the house. He planned to grab some meat and then head up to their nest to retire for the night, but when he drew near the kitchen he found Keith and Lance arguing again.

“Buzz off mullet I’m fine.” Snapped Lance.

“You got sent to the astral plane!” Snapped Keith right back. “What part of that is fine to you?”

“I came out alive didn’t I?”

“A bunch of astral plane demons made you drink their blood! You’re sick! Look at yourself! You’re all clammy and gross looking!”

“Oh thanks Keith. Really making me feel good here.”

“That’s not what I… Aaaaaaargh! Just shut up and sit down already! Let me take care of you!”

“Dude, fuck off! Out of the kitchen!”

“I will set your whole ass on fire!”

“You’ll burn down the kitchen before you do that!” Snapped Lance.

Shiro looked into the kitchen to see Lance trying to pull Keith away from the stove. It was kind of amusing, but it was inevitable that someone was going to get hurt. He sighed loudly and walked into the kitchen.

“Okay, what is going on now?”

Keith gestured to a rather sickly looking Lance. “This dumb ass managed to send his soul or whatever to the astral plane and got force fed blood by the astral demons. So now I’ve been told I have to take care of this dumb ass but he won’t let me cook!”

“Do you even know how to cook human food?” Asked Shiro.

“... How hard can it be?” Asked Keith. “You just put stuff in a pot and heat the pot. Simple.”

Lance rolled his eyes. “You’re going to poison me.”

“You ate astral demon blood. Pretty sure you’re already poisoned.” Growled Keith as he tried to find a pot.

Shiro chuckled in amusement and gestured to the fridge. “Hunk said to reheat stuff in there I think?”

“Perfect!” Said Lance as he quickly went to the fridge, found a plate of human food and put it in the microwave. “Ha, now you don’t have to cook for me and poison me.”

Keith seemed mildly offended. “I wasn’t going to poison you…”

Lance ignored him and went to eat his food. When he took his food into the dining room Shiro approached Keith. “Okay, tell me everything that happened.”

Keith explained to Shiro what happened at the Marmora base. How Marcello had become a god for a few brief minutes, how Bob had to stop him, how he managed to cleans himself by making an object of power, how Lance pretty much had an outer body experience in the astral plane, and now how he had to look after Lance and make sure he didn’t die from anything.

Shiro listened to what he was saying and nodded along. “So, if Lance is infected with sin and you need to feed from him regularly to make sure he’s okay, are you going to invite him into our nest?”

“...” Keith went bright red. “W-what?”

“It’ll be the best way to keep an eye on him.” Said Shiro. “But if you would rather sleep with him in a human bed I don’t mind sleeping in the nest by myself.”

“What? No! We’re a pack! We don’t do that!”

Shiro chuckled a little and grinned at him. “Calm down Keith. But I think we should at least ask him if he’d like to sleep in our nest while he’s sick. We aren’t sure what can happen with him and he shouldn’t be left alone.”

“... I guess…” Keith sighed and walked into the dining room with Shiro behind him. “Lance.”

“Yeah?”

“You’re sleeping in our nest with us tonight.”

“Um… I-”

“No excuses.” Snapped Keith. “Our nest tonight.”

Shiro tried to stifle his laughter. Poor Lance was so confused and Keith was so pushy about this. “Keith explained to me about what happened.” Said Shiro. “It’s best if you are around us for the next few nights. If something happens we’ll be able to help you better than you trying to fight it alone. Neither of us want something bad to happen to you.”

Lance frowned and pushed his food around his plate with his fork for a bit before he nodded. “Yeah. Okay. Whatever. I’m too tired to care about this.” Shiro would be lying if he said he didn’t smile a little when he saw the slight excited glint in Keith’s eyes. He was way too easy to read.


	29. Voices in my head

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And now for the glorious return of the one and only tiny Keith. He's full of sass and is ready to steal some kneecaps. Lance is still having a bad time though and runs into an entitled racist woman. The poor boy needs more love. Kudos and comment when you can. Enjoy :D

Sleeping in the nest with Shiro and Keith was… It was weird. Sure it was comfortable enough the way that they had laid it all out, but it felt weird to him the way that Shiro wrapped around them and pinned them both down with his arms. Keith seemed to be fine with this arrangement and was out was asleep as soon as he got comfortable. Shiro pretty much did the same, but would stir if Lance tried to move. When that happened, Shiro would press his paw down into him to keep him still. But apart from that Lance had a pretty good night’s sleep.

He woke up to the sounds of Shiro and Keith quietly talking around him. Lance was going to open his eyes but he didn’t want to get up just yet. He was tired. So he just listening to their quiet conversation.

“So how was it sleeping with someone else in the nest?” Asked Shiro in an amused tone. “Not too distressing for you kit?”

“I’m not a kit.” Grumbled Keith. “... And It was fine. Reminded me of when Dar was around. I miss him.”

“... I miss him too. A-anyway, what are you going to do with Lance today? More Summoner training?”

“Can’t. Lance isn’t allowed to do magic for a while in case it makes whatever happened to him even worse… I think I want to go hunting.”

“You think he’ll take you hunting?”

“I don’t see why not. He’d just have to take me somewhere where there are lots of people and we can meet up later.” Said Keith. He moved a little beside Lance as he went to sit up. “I’m getting hungry anyway. I need to eat and um… I think Lance likes me better when I look like a kit anyway. He’s always cooing and saying how cute I look.”

“Well he isn’t wrong you know.” Said Shiro. “Your tiny self is adorable.”

“You’re just saying that because you like being able to pick me up and toss me around when I’m small.”

“I fail to see the down side in that.”

“Of course you would.” Grumbled Keith. “I’m gonna go and pee…” He quickly left the room. When he was gone Lance opened his eyes and tried to push Shiro’s paw off his chest.

The Manticore was a little surprised he was awake, but moved his arm off him. “Morning Lance. Keith and I didn’t wake you up when we were talking, did we?”

“Kind of… So Keith wants me to take him hunting?”

“Yeah. Are you okay with that?” Asked Shiro. “You don’t have to if you don’t want to.”

“... I don’t know. It sounds kind of bloody. I don’t think I should go.”

“Understandable.” Shiro yawned and stretched like a house cat and sat up. “Keith is hunting down other humans. Even if they are only just human in appearance they still look human, so you would have to feel something if you saw a dead body. I’d be worried if you didn’t.”

“... Really?”

“Yeah. I get upset when I see a dead Manticore or a Manticore skeleton.”

“Oh… Does Keith feel the same when he sees Sin-Eaters? The dead ones?”

Shiro shrugged. “I’d guess so. Sin-Eaters stay in their packs until they go and find a mate. They they usually start their own packs or join up with one of their original packs to have kits. They like to stay spaced out. I don’t think there are many of them around anyway. At least not in the area we lived… Not a lot of food where we lived, but still.”

Lance nodded and sat up. “So… Where did you guys live?”

“Well, for a long time Keith, Akira, and I lived in kind of a kind of forest area, but it was very dry.” Said Shiro with fondness. “It was nice and there was a fair bit of game we could hunt. There were a few cracks around if we decided to try our luck at hunting in the human realm. But after Akira…” He frowned a little and shook his head. “We moved to a more desert area after that happened… It made Keith feel safer even if we were technically more exposed… Good thing male Manticore tend to live out in desert areas in general.”

Lance nodded, but he was kind of confused. “Shiro? What happened to Akira?”

Shiro frowned and stood up. He walked over towards Adam’s skull that he had carefully placed on a pillow. “Akira died… Keith took it really hard. He was still really young when it happened.”

“Oh…” That made sense. It explained why Akira wasn’t around anymore. “So um… What happened to him?”

“Not my place to say.” Said Shiro. “You’d have to ask Keith… Speaking of Keith where did he run off to? He should be back by now…”

“Yeah… He’s getting into trouble, probably.”

The two of them made their way down to the kitchen and found Keith, Pidge, and Hunk. Keith had shrunken down back to looking about six years old again. Pidge was trying to feed the grumpy looking demon tater tots while Hunk was cooking something on the stove. 

“Eat your fucking tots.” Said Pidge as she poked him in the cheek with one.

“No.” Growled Keith through gritted teeth. “If it doesn’t bleed I won’t eat it.”

She frowned and wrapped it in some ham. “Eat the fucking tot.”

Keith growled but ate it anyway to make her stop. “... Tater tots are the worst human food ever. Jump off a bridge.”

“Come on Pidge, leave Keith alone.” Said Hunk. He looked over his shoulder at them and waved at Shiro and Lance. “Oh hey guys. Morning.”

“Morning.” Lance walked over. “You making bacon?”

“Bacon, tater tots and eggs.” Said Hunk. “Shiro, do you want to try anything? As you can see Pidge is trying to get Keith to eat human food, but he doesn’t eat anything unless it has meat on it.”

“I’ll try some uncooked bacon.” Said Shiro. He took a rasher of bacon and ate it. “... Greasy.”

“Yeah it is.” Hunk continued to cook. “Oh, by the way, I’ll be late getting back tomorrow.”

“Why?” Asked Lance. “Staying late at school?”

“Yeah, kind of.” Hunk was blushing a little. “I’m going to help Shay with her desserts.”

Pidge grinned. “Shay? Shay? Who is this Shay?”

“Just a girl in my class.” Said Hunk. “She’s not very good at desserts, so I’m helping her out.”

Lance grinned. “So you got a date? Awesome.”

Hunk blushed. “What? No. It’s not a date… I mean she is cute and I kind of like her, but I hardly know her and she hardly knows me. I want to be friends with her first.”

“If she doesn’t want to date you she’s a fool.” Said Pidge as she tried to make Keith eat another tater tot. “A damn fool.”

Keith let out a small screech and hid behind Shiro. “No! No potatoes! They are bland, gross and tastes disgusting! Anything that isn’t meat tastes disgusting!”

Shiro patted his head. “It’s okay Keith. No more potatoes. Where do you want to hunt today?”

“I think it’s called a playground.” Said Keith. “I’ve seen kids go there lots when I’ve walked by before. Perfect place to hunt and play around on the stuff there.”

Lance rolled his eyes. “If you just want to go on the swing set you didn’t have to be tiny.”

“...” Keith blushed and hissed at Lance. “This is me being hungry! I’m hungry! I want food! I want good food! I want my food! If I need to blend in and you have to push me on a swing than so be it! I’m getting my fucking meat!”

Shiro glared at Keith and bopped him with his paw. “Language!”

Keith fell over. “Ow! Fucking lion!”

“What did I just say?”

Keith hissed at him and quickly got up to hide behind Lance. “Stay away from me damn it!” Shiro rolled his eyes and went to look for his own food while Hunk served up everyone else’s breakfast.

“So what’s your plan?” Asked Pidge. “Like when you two go out like that?”

“What do you mean?” Asked Lance as he stabbed some tater tots with his fork. 

Pidge rolled her eyes. “We’re living in a fucking mansion in the snobby part of town… And no offence but I am pretty fucking sure all our neighbours are white. Keith is way whiter than you are even if he kind of does look kind of Asian... But I digress, anyone want to take bets on how long it’ll be before some racist, entitled bitch decides you’re abducting a child or kidnapping or something? Because I’m putting all my money and a bag of chips on about a minute.”

Lance hadn’t thought about that. “Oh… well, if that happens we um… We’ll just say I’m his babysitter. Like, I’m friends with his brother, which is technically true I think?” He looked over at Shiro for some form of approval. The Manticore smiled and nodded at him. “Yeah. You can call me uncle Lance like my niece and nephew.”

Keith glared at him. “I would rather eat my own kneecaps.”

“You want a knife and fork for that?” Asked Pidge.

Keith death glared her. “I’ll eat your kneecaps.”

Lance rolled his eyes. “No one is getting their kneecaps eaten.” He pushed some bacon around. “Okay, so we’ll go down to the playground, I’ll pretend to be Keith’s babysitter and, Pidge you’re not doing anything today right?”

“Not a thing.”

“Cool. If something happens we’ll call you and you can get Shiro down to sort out any entitled mothers and stuff… We should get you demons some phones… It’ll make life easier for all of us...” Muttered Lance.

Shiro nodded in agreement. “Sounds like a good idea for the foreseeable future.”

When Lance was done eating Keith started pulling on his shirt. Clearly very impatient. “Okay you’re done eating now let’s get going so I can eat!”

“You ate a tater tot wrapped in ham.” Pointed out Lance.

Keith hissed at him and started to make his way to the front of the house. He was going to the playground whether Lance was going with him or not. Lance groaned and quickly put on some shoes to follow the angry demon child. 

***

When they got to the playground Keith wandered over to the swing set and jumped on it. “Push me.”

Lance rolled his eyes and pushed Keith on the swing. “You are a weird demon thing, you know that right?”

“Speak for yourself.” Muttered Keith. “I’m hungry and angry. Angry because I am hungry.”

“You ate a tater tot and ham.”

Keith growled and glared at him. “I’ll eat your kneecaps.”

“Will you stop threatening to eat everyone’s kneecaps already?”

“Only when I get to eat!”

Lance sighed and pushed Keith a little more. “So… What happens when you find your target and stuff? Do I just sit around and wait? Do you come over when you’re done and we just go home? How does this work?”

“It works when you shut your trap and leave me to hunt.”

“... You know, you’re a little bitch when you’re hungry.”

“That sounds like the kind of thing someone that doesn’t need kneecaps would say.”

“... Child I will push you so hard on this swing you will fly off into the sun.” Keith poked his tongue out at Lance. “When you get small all your emotions get all squashed too. You literally only have two emotions when you’re this small; pissed off and sassy.”

“Eat a dick Lance.”

“See? You’re all pissed off!” Keith hissed at him and jumped off the swings, landing face first on the ground. Lance panicked and quickly helped him up and dusted him off. Lance’s protective instincts were kicking in. “Are you okay? Any cuts? No cuts. No bleeding. You’re fine. Did you twist anything? Anything broken?”

Keith rolled his eyes. “Lance. I literally break my bones to get this small in the first place. Every part of me is completely broken.”

“... Right. I keep forgetting that…”

“Yeah… I’m going on this thing now.” Keith quickly climbed up the slide and went down it. Lance was really starting to think that Keith just wanted to play on the playground equipment. Keith was just a strange, demon thing at heart. Did he even really want to eat someone? He probably just wanted to play around like a kid.

As he stood by and watched Keith playing around some other kids and their parents came by. Mostly mum groups with their kids. He felt their eyes on him. It was weird. He didn’t know what they were thinking but he was starting to think that maybe Pidge was right about the entitled white racist women in the area. He just wanted to go home now, just because of how uncomfortable he was feeling.

Keith seemed to sense some of his unease and walked over to him. “You okay there?”

“Yeah. I’m fine.”

“Excuse me.” Said an extremely high pitched and annoying voice that gave Lance PTSD to when he worked in retail in high school. Lance turned his head to see a woman with what could only be described as the typical Karen haircut was glaring at him through her giant sunglasses.

Lance immediately felt anxious and put on his best customer service voice. “Hey there can I help you?”

“What are you doing with that boy?”

Lance looked down at Keith who was glaring at her and giving her the best stink eye a small child could muster. “I’m babysitting my friends little brother?”

Keith tugged on Lance’s shirt. “Uncle Lance, I want to go on the swings. Please?”

“Sure thing little buddy.” Lance tried to move away with Keith but the woman grabbed Lance’s wrist, digging her shitting fake nails into his arm.

“Where do you think you’re going?” She snapped.

“H-hey! Let me go!” Said Lance in a panicked voice. He was genuinely scared. Lance wasn't a confrontational person by nature.

Before the woman could say anything Keith started to growl at her like a dog. “Get your fucking hands off him before I rip your fucking face off you fucking bitch.”

The woman looked shocked and then enraged. “How dare you! What kind of parents would let their child talk like that? You little-”

Lance managed to pull his arm away from the woman and quickly scooped up Keith. As soon as Keith was safely in his arms he felt like he got hit with a shock wave as words quickly started to fill his head.

_I’ll stab that bitch in the cunt. Fucking prideful whore._

Lance shuddered and quickly started to walk away with Keith. The woman was screaming about him kidnapping a child while Keith was yelling at her to fuck herself. He was unbelievably aggressive today.

_I’ll kill her. I’ll fucking kill her. How dare that bitch touch Lance._

Hearing his name made him pause for a moment and looked at Keith. He was baring his fangs and hissing in the direction of the woman. Was he hearing Keith’s thoughts? That was kind of disturbing to say the least. Did that mean Keith could read his thoughts? That was scary.

“Um, Keith?”

“What?”

“Are you thinking about stabbing that woman in the cunt?”

Keith looked surprised. “... Did I say that out loud?”

“No, I think I read your mind.”

Keith glared at him. “Get out of my head. You’re not meant to be using magic.”

“Dude, I’m not doing this deliberately!”

“Yeah, yeah. Whatever you say… Oh fuck the bitch is coming over.”

Lance looked over his shoulder and saw that the crazy entitled woman was storming over towards them while she was on the phone. Possibly with the police if he knew crazy women. Knowing he was probably fucked he quickly called Pidge and put her on speaker and hoped that she would get the message and send Shiro over.

“Don’t you go anywhere!” She snapped at him while clicking her terribly manicured fingers at him. “You stay right here! You’re kidnapping a child! The police are coming here right now!”

“FUCK OFF!” Screeched Keith in an almost painfully high pitched voice. “I’M NOT GETTING KIDNAPPED YOU CRAZY WHORE!”

“DON’T YOU DARE SPEAK LIKE THAT TO ME! I’M AN ADULT YOU-”

“YOU’RE A FUCKING ANCIENT DINOSAUR! SLIT YOUR FUCKING WRISTS AND GO JUMP OFF A BRIDGE YOU DECREPIT OLD BITCH!”

Lance was practically deaf in one ear from tiny Keith’s high pitched squeals alone. He could kind of hear sirens off in the distance getting closer. Perfect. The police were here. They pulled up next to them and two officers got out. Keith and the crazy woman were still screeching at each other. They were screeching so loudly at each other that that officers had to separate them while they tried to figure out what is happening.

Keith then started screeching at the officer. “FUCK OFF AND DIE!”

Lance started screaming internally. Keith was so going to get him thrown in jail. Did Keith even know what the police were? Did he know they could get thrown in jail? Well, he could, Keith would probably get handed over to CPS. “S-sorry about him. He has a lot of aggression issues. He’s seeing a therapist about it.”

The officer looked annoyed but did their best to try and ignore the screeching demon child. “So, what happened?”

“Keith wanted to go to the playground. He and his brother are staying with me and I volunteered to take him since his brother was busy.” Said Lance. “She accused me of kidnapping for some reason and then Keith started to have a meltdown. So I was trying to take him away from her to calm him down since she’s the one that made him angry in the first place.”

By the time he finished talking Shiro and Pidge had come running over. Pidge doubled over and started hacking. Clearly not used to running. Shiro immediately went to Keith and scooped him out of Lance’s arms.

“Whoa, what’s wrong Keith?” He asked

Instantly Keith calmed down and stopped screeching at the world. “Pidge was right about the crazies that live here.”

Shiro nodded and carefully hugged him while glaring at the woman ranting and raving at the other officer. “I see… I’m surprised you didn’t try to bite her.”

“I would have taken her kneecaps.”

“... You are obsessed with kneecaps today aren’t you?”

“Are you this boy’s brother?” Asked the officer.

Shiro nodded. “Yeah. Keith is my little brother. He wanted to go to the playground today so Lance took him. Keith’s kind of picky about the people he likes to be around… We’re staying at Lance’s place at the moment.”

“And where is that?” Asked the officer.

“Number… number four…” Panted Pidge. “Winchester road… I can’t believe we ran here…”

The officer nodded and raised their eyebrow a little when they heard that. “That really, really big house?”

Pidge nodded. “Yeah. Lance’s place.”

Lance shrugged. “Inherited it a few months ago. Still sorting things out. Pretty much just been going to and from school. Haven’t explored the area very much.”

The woman shrieked something about filthy illegals ruining her neighbourhood. As soon as she said that Keith started screeching and flailing again. “I’M TAKING YOUR KNEECAPS!”

_Fucking die already._

Shiro frowned and looked at the officer. “Can I take my brother away now? He’s not going to stop screaming until we are away from her.”

The officer went and talked to the other police officer and after a few minutes they told Lance and company to leave while they talked to the woman. They quickly left while she started to scream at the officers. As they left Lance noticed Keith flipping her the bird and smirking.

Pidge sighed heavily. “I told you this place was full of assholes. Bunch of racist Karen's… Do you think she thought you were some illegal Mexican immigrant or something?”

“Probably.” Muttered Lance. “These white people are crazy… Sorry your hunting trip got kind of ruined there Keith.”

Keith huffed and pouted. “I’m still hungry… I want to eat something nice for once…”

_I want food… I’m hungry… Why did I think Lance would want to come hunting with me? I’m an idiot… Should have just asked Shiro to drop me off in some random toy shop again..._

“You’re not an idiot.” Lance said quietly.

Keith glared at him. “Stop reading my mind!”

Shiro and Pidge quickly looked between the two of them. “Since when can you read minds?” Asked Pidge. “Can you read my mind? What am I thinking?”

“Just Keith’s mind.” Said Lance. “It’s weird.”

Keith glared at him. “Stop it. I just want food damn it.”

“We could go hunting together?” Suggested Shiro.

Keith frowned and grumbled into Shiro’s shoulder. _I can’t leave Lance alone. He’s still sick… I’m gonna get into so much trouble if something happens to him and I’m not around… My Sar’s gonna yell at me._

It was kind of touching that Keith didn’t want to leave him alone. Even if it was because he was worried about what Krolia was gonna do to him. It was still kind of nice. “I’ll be fine. You two should go hunting together.”

Keith glared at him again. “Did you read my mind again?”

“... No?”

He grumbled again and glared at the ground. _I’m hungry. I want food. I wish I could eat something good… I want to hunt my own food. I’m not a kit anymore. I can do this myself… Lance if you can hear this I’m going to steal your kneecaps in your sleep._

Lance squeaked a little in surprise. Which made Keith glare at him and growl. “Stop that. You’re not allowed to use magic you fucker.”

“I’m not doing this on purpose! I don’t want to know what demons think!”

Pidge rolled her eyes. “You two just go out and hunt. I’ll take Lance back home. Should I put him in a ring of salt or something?”

“Why would salt do anything to a demon?” Asked Shiro.

“Because bad things can’t pass it?”

“Never heard of that one before.” Mused Shiro. “Anyway, do you want to go hunting with me Keith?”

“... Yeah. I want to get food.”

“Cool, we’ll see you guys soon.” Said Pidge as she quickly lead Lance back into their driveway and back up to the house. Once they were halfway up the driveway she let out a small sigh. “Wow… White people are fucking crazy huh?”

“Yeah…”

“And now you can read Keith’s mind? That’s crazy.”

“You’re telling me. All he does is swear and scream at people in his head. Got no idea if that’s because he’s small and has like no room in his head to process more than one or two emotions at a time.”

“Seems like it... Want to play Smash Bros Ultimate and forget about it?”

“Yes.”

***

Lance and Pidge were in the middle of a huge tournament with a bunch of random rules. Lance was playing as an Inkling and crushing it while Pidge was running around as Mr. Game & Watch. She was pretty good at it, but nothing could compete with Lance when he finally got that smash ball. It was a good distraction and he wasn’t randomly reading Keith’s mind anymore. It was probably a proximity thing anyway.

“Ha, beat you again Pidge.”

“You just got lucky.” She grumbled. “I won’t go so easy on you next time.”

“Yeah, sure Pidge.” They started the next round and things were going pretty well for Lance. They were playing on the WarioWare, Inc stage. Which was one of his favourites. He was easily kicking her ass and could practically feel the sweet taste of victory on his tongue when he saw the smash ball float by the screen. In fact he could taste something sweet. Almost overpoweringly so in his mouth.

But he ignored it for the moment and continued to attack the hell out of the smash ball until he felt something thick like syrup ran down his throat. It tasted like copper mixed with honey. He started shaking and dropped the controller.

_Just die already you fucking pig._ He heard Keith growl in the back of his mind. _How many times to I have to bite your fucking neck till you bleed out? Fuck it. Where the fuck is your heart?_

“HA!” Pidge managed to get the smash ball and destroyed Lance, winning the round. “I finally got one up on you. Wanna go for another round?” She looked over at Lance and her playful smirk suddenly changed into that of concern. “Lance? Are you okay?”

Lance put his hand over his mouth in an attempt to stop himself from vomiting. “I-I think Keith is eating someone…”

Pidge was staring at him in shock. “Wait, you serious? You just hearing things or seeing things?”

“H-hearing and tasting… I think I’m going to be sick…” Lance’s heart was pounding. He didn’t want to hear this. He didn’t want to hear a play by play of Keith eating someone alive. “I need a bucket…”

“... Shit. Be back in a second.” Pidge quickly dashed out of the room while Lance curled up on the floor, clutching his stomach. He felt like he was going to vomit if he even swallowed a drop of saliva or risk spewing that up. 

Keith’s thoughts were so angry and full of blood lust. It was difficult for him to admit, but Keith really was a dangerous creature, and maybe this was just the kind of thoughts he had all the time. Why the hell could he taste sugar and blood? It was disgusting. 

_... Fucking piece of shit. Just rolled over and died without any fucking fight. Fucking pathetic. I didn’t even use enough venom to paralyze you properly. Pathetic. Where the fuck is your gallbladder you fat piece of shit? Why the fuck do you not have a gallbladder?_

Lance screwed his eyes shut as tightly as he could. Red bathed his vision with flashes of white… And in those flashes of white he could see something. Maybe a bathroom stall? He was pretty sure that’s what it was. Why was he seeing this? Why? Was this what Keith was seeing? If that was the case then that meant he was going to see...

“No…” He whimpered. “S-stop it Keith… Please… Please don’t do it… Please… I don’t want to see that. I don’t want to see it. Please stop. Please...”

***

Keith growled a little as he haphazardly bit into the skull of a man and spat it out into a toilet to get at the brain. Shiro and Keith had gone into a toy shop and they did their usual song and dance. Both demons knew how to act once Keith spotted his mark. Keith would give Shiro a signal and Shiro would wander off to the other side of the store while Keith was seemingly distracted. Some time passed and a man took Keith away.

He took Keith to a bathroom and in an instant Keith pounced and tore into him. He was honestly starving for some meat laced with sin. He was ravenous and pissed off from the events earlier that day. If this was hell he would have ripped that bitch apart.

As he sunk his teeth into the man’s frontal lobe he heard a frantic ringing in his ears. _I don’t want to see it. Please stop. Please..._

Keith paused for a moment. That was Lance’s voice. How the hell was he hearing Lance? This better not be some weird thing that was going to happen from now on. Lance shouldn’t be using magic right now. He was really messed up right now. So eating another person probably wasn’t the best idea if Lance knew what he was doing. He was probably freaking out right now. Humans tended to have difficulty processing another human getting ripped apart.

With a heavy sigh Keith stopped eating and took a moment to look down at himself. He was completely covered from head to toe in blood and guts. “Shit…”

He stood around for a few minutes and waited for Shiro to come by. He heard the bathroom door open up and Shiro walked in. “Keith? You in there?”

“Yeah… I made a mess of everything. There’s blood everywhere, and guts… Please tell me you have some clothes for me. I look like I clawed my way out of a dragon’s belly.”

“Yikes…” He heard Shiro lock the bathroom door and he pushed open the stall. He looked a little surprised at how bloody it was in there. “You really went to town in here huh?”

“It’s been about a month since I’ve eaten anyone.” Grumbled Keith. “Excuse me if I was a little ravenous.”

“Keith you look like someone dumped a bucket of red paint on you.” He sighed, put a backpack away on the clean side of the bathroom and removed his own shirt and pants. “Look, I’ll get rid of the rest of the body. You clean up, get dressed and we’ll get going. Okay?”

“Okay…” Keith started to clean himself up at the sink using a lot of water and paper towels while he heard Shiro crunching on the rest of his kill. “... I heard Lance before. When I was eating.” He said as he washed the blood out of his hair.

“Oh?” Asked Shiro as he swallowed a mouthful of meat. “Oh! This is probably a Summoner thing! I’ve heard about it a lot when I was a cub. One of my aunts got summoned by an oracle and pretty much became her familiar. They developed a really strong bond and were able to start reading each other’s minds for a while… Think you’re becoming Lance’s familiar? That would be pretty cool.”

Keith rolled his eyes as he peeled off his bloody clothes. “Yeah, no. We can’t even do the basic kind of Summoner magic stuff. What chance do we have doing anything else?”

“True… But I think it would be pretty cool to become a familiar. If you like the human realm that is. The only way a familiar contract is broken is if one of you dies.”

“Huh… I guess I’ll think about it.” Keith walked over to the backpack and looked through it. “... Shiro, why are the only clothes in here a dress?”

“I just grabbed something.” Said Shiro was he walked out of the stall, wiping the blood off his mouth. “You’re pretty gender neutral when you’re small anyway. What’s the big deal?”

Keith grumbled and pulled it on. “Whatever… Let’s just go already.”

“One second.” Shiro washed his hands and quickly took something out of the backpack and quickly put it in Keith’s hair. It was a hair clip with a bow in it. “Perfect.”

“... Shiro, I’m stealing your kneecaps while you sleep tonight.”


	30. Help was attempted

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lance reaches a realization and Keith tries to be a good demon. Kudos and comment when you can. Enjoy :D

“Empathetic animo legere.” Diagnosed Ulaz. “Should clear up on its own. It’s actually quite a common thing in Empaths like yourself.” After Shiro and Keith came home and Pidge explained what was going on, everyone decided to get the Marmora coven involved in it immediately. So Ulaz and Thace came over to come by and make sure that Lance was okay and not going to suddenly drop dead.

The diagnosis was kind of strange. They had taken Lance into the dining room, scribbled symbols on the table, stripped Lance down to his underwear, laid him in the middle of the symbols, lit a bunch of candles and placed a bunch of crystals all over his body. They chanted for about five minutes before Ulaz came up with that.

“Does seem kind of advanced though.” Said Thace as he blew out the candles as he tried to explain what was going on to Lance, Pidge, and the two demons in the room. “Usually someone as old as Lance with only having a few months actually using magic it seems like a very sudden leap to be able to do Empathetic animo legere.”

Lance frowned and very carefully sat up as he took the crystals off his body. “I really don’t get what it means. Why could I read Keith’s mind? I don’t get how being an Empath means I can read minds.”

“Simple really.” Said Ulaz. “You’re an empath and your magic is strongly affected by your emotions and in some cases the emotions of others. So it makes sense that you were able to read Keith’s mind when he was just focused on hunting. Hungry demons tend to have a one track mind.”

Thace nodded in agreement. “Yes… And I guess since you Summoned him, along with your natural abilities as an Empath, and Keith’s absolute rage at being denied his first meal I guess it makes sense that it is possible you could hear sentence fragments and not just strong emotional feelings?”

Ulaz smiled fondly at the other witch. “See, you are retaining medical knowledge.”

A faint blush made its way onto Thace’s face as he quickly packed the candles away. “It wasn’t that hard to remember. I mean… You are a good teacher…”

Lance rolled his eyes and got off the table to put his pants back on. “So like, what exactly is wrong with me now? You can’t just throw around some Latin and expect me to understand it.”

Ulaz seemed slightly frustrated by Lance’s attitude but answered him regardless. “As it has been explained many times you are an Empath and your powers come from emotions. Some Empths can use the emotions of others as a source of fuel for their own magic. You can literally emotionally drain people. You can also unintentionally absorb the strong emotions of others around you. Since you are Keith’s Summoner and Keith was feeling extreme emotions you were able to feed off of that and it manifested itself as Empathetic animo legere. One of the more advanced forms too. You could hear his thoughts and you were starting to see what he could see. If you two ever get separated you could possibly use this to find him and possibly talk to him over long distances.”

Thace nodded in agreement. “It’s an incredibly handy thing. You won’t need to learn any spells to track him down if something happens… Probably would have been useful if you had that ability when you first summoned Keith, but better late than never I guess?”

Lance shrugged. “So… How long till this all eventually goes away?”

“A few days.” Said Ulaz. “But I think that maybe with your condition and what happened earlier, it might be a bit longer…” He took a large, flat, clear geode slice out of the bag he had brought with him and held it up to Lance’s face. “... What happened to you could have potentially enhanced your powers. It’ll take a while for you to be able to tune it all out. You’ll just have to deal with it. It should be fine… But please keep us informed and Keith, don’t shrink down into your child form to hunt again for a while.”

Keith nodded and kept his eyes trained on the floor. “Yeah. Okay. I can do that.” He sounded kind of guilty. Which confused Lance a bit. He didn’t think Keith had anything to be feeling guilty about.

“Is there anything else we can do for him?” Asked Shiro. “Should we be making a tonic or something? Anything to take the edge off or something?”

Ulaz shook his head. “There is nothing much you can do. The only thing I would suggest is keeping a level head and everyone keeping your emotions in check. Extreme emotions will trigger an Empathetic animo legere in Lance if the emotions are strong enough.”

Thace nodded in agreement. “But you shouldn’t repress your emotions. Just be wary of it and keep a level head. Just be aware that Lance will probably be able to read your emotions and tell what you are feeling for the next few days till he can keep it in check.”

“I hate magic.” Grumbled Lance. “Who’s going to tell Hunk when he gets back, because I’m not.”

“Why not?” Asked Shiro.

“Because Hunk’s already worried about this magic stuff.” Said Lance. “He’s gonna get all anxious and worried for me and I’ll probably end up reading his mind and hearing how scared and worried he is about me… I don’t want to be around when that happened.” He sighed and walked out of the room. 

“Where are you going?” Asked Keith.

Lance shrugged. “I have homework to do. I still go to school Keith. I’m not just some stupid warlock that can’t control their new powers.” Was Lance a little bitter about this? Yes. Yes he was. He hated not knowing what was happening to him or if he was even able to control it. He walked to his room and locked himself inside. He did have a report he needed to get finished soon. He couldn’t afford to hand it in late.

***

Keith still felt bad about everything that was happening to Lance. In a round about way it was kind of his fault too. He was a demon and he was probably doing something to exacerbate his magical condition since they were bound together. Lance probably wouldn’t be freaking out about all this crazy stuff right now.

Ulaz walked over to Keith and frowned at him. “Keith, while that dress is quite adorable you should probably go back to looking your age.”

Keith grumbled and quickly left the room to change into his actual age and out of the stupid dress Shiro packed for him to wear. He went back to their room and changed back into his proper physical age then he put pants and a shirt back on. Now that he was back to his normal self again his head became a little clearer. Being small was only meant to be a temporary thing anyway.

He felt bad for yelling at Lance for reading his mind when he very clearly wasn’t trying to do it. It had been a rough few days for him and it was probably going to get worse if Ulaz’s diagnosis was any indication. He should probably do something for him to make him feel a little better. There was probably some magic object around the house that would make him chill out a little.

So Keith ventured down to the basement to have a look around. There were lots of really weird things down there. Lots of creature parts in jars and odd looking stones. Keith picked up a few things and turned them over in his hands. He hoped that he’d be able to feel some kind of calmness when holding one of the items.

He eventually came across something that looked a little like a red leaf, or a fossilized feather on a stand. He picked up the stand and held it up to the light. It definitely wasn’t a leaf and it certainly wasn’t a feather. It looked like thin slice of red flesh cut in a leaf shape. Along the edges there were small jagged edges. Kind of like needles or teeth.

Keith frowned a little and carefully touched it. If gave him a strange tingling feeling in his fingers and a strange sense of familiarity. He’d probably seen a creature with the same kind of weird feather like things when he was in hell. It was possible. He had seen, and had almost been eaten by many different demons in hell. He put it back and continued to look around for something to help Lance.

On the shelf where he found the weird looking red thing he found a lot more feathers, bones, and other flight paraphernalia. They had words written on it, but it wasn’t Latin or Infernal so Keith had no idea what it was. 

Eventually he found a piece of metal suspended in a jar that he recognized. It was a piece of the Throne. He took a closer look at the jar and nodded a little when he saw a circle inscribed on the top with words next to it in a language Keith didn’t know. He figured it meant first sphere, Throne. He had a closer look at some of the other things and found several different circles each ranging from one to three. As far as Keith knew the spheres were used to classify a sub species of flying celestials called angels. The whole shelf seemed to be filled with things from heaven, or whatever people wanted to call it.

It was pretty odd, but he guessed that there could be many uses for parts from heaven like there were from parts from hell. He picked up the strange looking red flesh again and had a look to see if it had a circle inscribed on the stand somewhere. Eventually he managed to find three circles and a word he couldn’t read. This must have come from an angel from the third sphere. 

He ran his finger along the sharp edge of the weird angel object and he cut his finger slightly. Keith flinched slightly but watched in surprise when his blood seemed to be drawn into the object and it beat. Like a heart. Just once. That was… it was odd. He hadn’t heard of an object from there needing blood to function. Maybe it was part of an angel? That would make sense. Right? Angels were weird things.

Distracted from his previous mission by his own curiosity, Keith widened his cut a little more and dripped it onto the object just to see what would happen. The strange flesh leaf absorbed the blood and started beating again. The more blood he fed it the more it looked like some kind of organ. Maybe that’s what it was? Some organ ripped from the belly of an angel?

Keith lightly swiped his fingers across the fleshy part of the thing. He expected it to feel warm and maybe he’d feel another tingle in his fingers, but instead he felt a spark. A spark in the back of his mind that gave him flashes of memories from a time and place he had never seen.

Burning buildings. Screaming people. Rivers of blood. Humanoid creatures with six red wings. Then there was a man holding his hand up to the sky as the humanoid creatures fell to the ground and their feathers drifted to the ground like leaves in the wind. They caught one of the feathers and gave the creepiest smile Keith had seen in a long time.

He jumped back in surprise and quickly put the apparent angel feather back down. That was really, really weird. Keith very carefully pushed it to the back of the shelf and went back to looking for something to help Lance. Whatever that was he chalked up to weird magic shit.

Eventually Keith found a pink pearl the size of a fist at the top of a shelf. It gave off a calming aura that he knew would help Lance. Keith wasn’t too sure where the pearl came from. Could have been naturally occurring or made by a demon, but it would serve his purposes.

He walked up to Lance’s room and gently knocked on the door. “Lance?”

After a few minutes Lance opened the door and glared at Keith. “What?”

“...” Keith handed him the pearl “Take it. It’ll help you feel less stressed.”

Lance looked down at the pearl and up at Keith. “I don’t want it.”

“But I…” He sighed. “Okay… Sorry… I’ll just leave you alone...”

“No, wait I…” Lance sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. “Look, I’m sorry man. This isn’t your fault. I’m just… I’m stressed. I have a paper I need to write and I just… All this stupid magic shit isn’t helping me… I’ve never wanted anything to do with magic in the first place.”

Keith couldn’t help but feel a little saddened by that. “Oh… I get it. Really I do. I just… I’m not sure how else to help you… I’m meant to help you. That’s what a summoned demon does.”

“...” Lance took the pearl from Keith. “Thanks. I appreciate it. I really do… Did you cut yourself?”

“Yeah. You have an angel feather in the basement.”

“I do?”

“Yeah. It has sharp edges.” Said Keith. “Also, angel feathers are kind of fleshy and absorb blood.”

Lance just started at Keith with an unreadable expression. “I see.” Lance was clearly done with this magic shit.

In an instant Keith felt like he had made a mistake. No magic stuff. Lance didn’t want to talk about magic stuff anymore. “S-so… Can I help you with anything?”

“What do you know about teaching kindergartners not to choke on crayons?” Asked Lance. “Do you even know what a crayon is?” 

“... I hope the pearl helps.”

“Yeah… Oh, and Keith?”

“Yeah?”

“You still have a bow clip in your hair.” Lance closed the door and Keith quickly pulled the clip out of his hair. Lance was really upset about all this magic stuff now, wasn’t he?

***

Lance was miserable. He wanted to finish his paper, but nothing was coming to mind, and Keith’s distraction wasn’t helping much either. He’d sat in front of his laptop for another hour before he just gave up. This wasn’t working anymore. When did any of it work? Nothing worked for him anymore.

He shut the laptop down and lied down on his bed. He was under too much stress. He was going to have to drop out. He didn’t want to drop out, but if some weird power kicked in when he was in a lecture, or god forbid a classroom with kids, he’d never be able to forgive himself. He reached out across his bed and grabbed the pearl Keith brought to him. 

It did make him feel a little better. Kind of surprising, but not that surprising. Keith was a demon so he would know his demon shit… Come to think of it, when was the last time he actually asked Keith about any demon stuff? He’d been getting all his information from books. Keith would know a bunch of stuff but he… He felt like an idiot.

Suddenly the door opened up. It was practically ripped off its hinges. Shiro was standing there awkwardly with the door awkwardly in his hands.

Lance just sat up and gave him a confused look. “Do you need something?’

“I-I um… I was… I...” Shiro awkwardly stuttered. “Excuse me…” He quickly put the door back in place as best he could and knocked on the door frame.

“...” Lance walked over to the door and pushed it down. “Why did you pull off my door?”

“To be fair I was seeing if the door was open and I don’t know my own strength when I’m in human form and not my normal Manticore form.” Said Shiro. “I was just coming to check on you. I ran into Keith and he looked pretty upset. So are you upset?”

“... I’m dropping out of school.” Said Lance. “I can’t deal with school and all this magic bullshit. It’s too much for someone that’s never grown up with it… I don’t want to hurt anyone because I can’t control it, whatever it is. I don’t know…”

Shiro nodded a little. He didn’t seem to understand the gravity of what Lance was talking about, but he was trying. “I see… Come back to the nest. It isn’t good to sleep alone when you feel this way.”

“What way?”

“Upset.” Said Shiro calmly. “You’re still sick and being upset over this isn’t good for you. Keith already feels bad enough that he’s doing a shit job as a summoned demon. It’s his first time being in this realm for so long… He’s trying but like, you know...”

Lance shrugged. “Yeah, fine. I’ll still sleep in your nest… Fuck it I’m going there now. I’m done with today.” He walked past Shiro and towards their room. “Don’t bother waking me up for dinner or anything. I just want to sleep.”

“Okay… You take care of yourself there Lance.”

“Yeah, whatever…” Lance went to their room and lied down on their nest. He hugged a pillow close to his chest and tried to sleep with trying not to spiral into depression about his decision.

***

Later that night Lance felt something heavy and warm wrap around him. He opened an eye to see Shiro’s chest. He was in his manticore form so he pretty much had a face full of manticore fur. His arm was placed firmly across his body, pinning him in place. Lance also felt something moving against his back and when he turned his head he saw Keith’s hair.

“...” Lance wasn’t sure how to feel about this. His whole world was pretty much falling apart but at least these two seemed to want to be with him, and that gave him some comfort. He smiled a little at that thought. Though he had to admit it was kind of sad. How lonely and deep in depression did he have to be to be happy to be around demons?

He glanced over at both the demons and smiled a little. This wasn’t so bad.


	31. Doppelganger

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lance is dealing with shit and now Shiro has shit to deal with because well... Because he does. Kudos and comment when you can. Enjoy :D

Early the next day Lance went to talk to his professors about dropping out of school. Keith and Shiro ended up going with him. Keith didn’t like the idea of Lance being alone anywhere without him, and Shiro just wanted to go for a walk. He enjoyed the fresh air. Plus Shiro kind of just wanted to keep an eye on Keith and Lance.

They were standing in the hallway while Lance was talking to a professor. Shiro watched Keith pacing the halls. He seemed very agitated. It was amusing to Shiro to watch his littermate slowly walking around and glancing at the door. It reminded him of an animal waiting for their master to come home. In a way that was kind of true; they were both obligated to look after and protect Lance to the best of their abilities.

Truthfully demons under contract to witches and warlocks were kind of just apathetic guard dogs if they were kept around. If their witch or warlock was in danger they would generally defend them, unless they were particularly rude to them, then the demon might join in the killing of said witch or warlock. Since Lance had been rather good to them both demons felt a bit of loyalty to him.

At least that’s what Shiro felt for Lance. He had saved him from Haggar without any hesitation when he found a way to get him out of the contract. Shiro’s loyalties lied firmly with Lance. He wasn’t sure if he would die for Lance, but he would take an arrow for him at least.

“You doing okay there Keith?”

Keith glanced at him and huffed. “I’m fine.”

“Really?”

“Yes… What’s taking so long? What are they talking about?”

“I’m sure it will be fine. Just relax. It’ll be fine.” He leaned against a wall and continued to watch Keith pace around. He was still a mad child.

Shiro smiled and closed his eyes. He felt that Keith was just worrying about nothing. After they were done they could go home or get something to eat. He had no idea what what Lance or Keith wanted to do, but he was happy enough to chaperone the two around for a bit. 

Suddenly a door opened up and Shiro could hear talking. Just some student talking to their professor about something… But one of the voices sounded familiar to him. He looked over at the open door. Shiro felt his heart stop beating in his chest. The professor waving off their student was a very familiar looking man; light brown skin, amber eyes, fluffy brown hair. Adam. It was Adam, but it wasn’t. They were the spitting image of the long dead man.

Shiro’s mouth went dry and he was about to call out to him when Lance came out from talking to his professor. “Let’s go.” He muttered. Lance looked pretty miserable. 

Shiro quickly looked back over to where Adam was, but he had gone back into his room. Shiro wanted nothing more than to rip open the door and confront the man, but Keith was pulling Shiro along.

Was he just seeing things? He had to. Adam was dead… Maybe it was just pure coincidence? These things happened. Maybe this person was probably just a relative? Adam probably had relatives and they had children. Adam’s bloodline didn’t have to stop with him. Shiro didn’t know if reincarnation was real what would happen if that was true… But he felt for sure if it was a thing that Adam would have recognised him. He would have acknowledged him somehow, but he didn’t. He didn’t even noticed him.

“Lance?”

“Yeah?” Muttered Lance miserably. 

“That man in that other room. You saw him right? Who is that?”

Lance shrugged. “Professor Wright. He’s part of the English department. Why?”

“... No reason.”

Keith gave him a weird look but quickly turned his attention back to Lance. “Are you okay? Are we going home now?”

“Yes we’re going home.” Grumbled Lance. “I’m done with this… I’m just… We’re stopping at the liquor store on the way home.”

After that Shiro just tuned out the conversation. He was too preoccupied with Professor Wright. It was Adam. It had to be. He looked too much like him. Was this a possible second chance? Was the universe trying to reverse the wrong it committed against Adam all those years ago? Maybe it was. Maybe it wasn’t. He hoped it was the case. Adam deserved so much more than what the world offered him the first time.

***

Later that day Lance just ended up curled up on the couch and half heartedly played video games with Keith. Keith was frustrated that Lance wasn’t trying, but Lance didn’t have the energy to care. Shiro watched them from afar, but he was still slightly obsessed with this person that looked too much like Adam.

He was instantly obsessed with the man. Who was he? What was his name. He needed to see him again. He had to talk to him. He had to. But how was he going to do it? It would have been easy enough in the past, but now he had to be sneakier. He couldn’t just stalk him as a Manticore. He’d have to do something else.

He looked over at Lance and cleared his throat. “Um, Lance?”

“Hmm?”

“Can I ask you for a favour?”

“Hmm?”

“... Can I have some money?” He asked. “I want to go out tonight and-”

Lance tossed his wallet at him. “Take it. I don’t care how much you send or what you spend it on. Just don’t lose it.”

“Oh, okay. I’ll be back in a bit.” Shiro left the house and walked down the driveway before pausing. He hadn’t left the property alone since he had reunited with Keith. But he had to satisfy his own curiosity. He had to find Adam again. He had to. If he couldn’t he would just… He didn’t know what he would do. What he could do.

***

“Was it really wise to give Shiro your wallet?” Asked Keith. “Demons don’t have a concept of money. At least not the way humans do.”

“I don’t give a shit.” Grumbled Lance. “I never wanted all this money. It’s all… I don’t care anymore.”

Keith sighed and put down his controller. “Is this because you dropped out? You’re depressed because your dropped out?”

“It was a stressful decision.”

“I’m not saying it wasn’t.” Said Keith. “I just… Look, I get what it’s like to be depressed about stuff. You’re not the only one that’s felt that way. I just… I’m trying to understand you and I can’t understand you if you don’t talk to me.” Honestly Keith hated talking about feelings and junk, but it did help him a little when his dar… It just helped him a lot. “Talking is… it’s good. You’re good at talking.”

Lance sighed heavily and dropped the controller. “What am I meant to say that I haven’t already said before? I never wanted to be a warlock. I never wanted to have magic powers and shit. I just wanted to be me. How can I be me when all this just… None of this was part of the plan but everything just went to shit. The life I wanted to have, as a teacher, is ruined. I can’t even study or do anything like that anymore because I don’t know how my magic will affect myself or the people around me. I don’t want anyone to get hurt because of me and I just… I’m tired Keith. I’m really tired of getting jerked around.”

“... I’m sorry.”

Lance shrugged. “Not your fault… My parents are going to be so disappointed in me… They are going to hate me for dropping out.”

“...” Keith reached over and gently touched Lance’s hand. “I’m sorry you dropped out of school. It sounded important.”

“It is important… was important… I could always try again later but I… I hate this.”

“What can I do to make you feel better?”

“I don’t know Keith… I just don’t know anymore…” He sighed and curled up on the couch and frowned. “I can’t believe I just threw my wallet at Shiro… He better not come back with something stupid.”

“I don’t think he will. Why would he?”

“I don’t know… What am I going to tell my parents?”

Keith shrugged. “I’m sorry. I don’t know… I’ve never had to deal with this stuff before. It’s been me and Shiro for most of my life.”

“... What happened to Akira?”

“He…” Keith sighed sadly. “There was a scrub fire. He got caught in it.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah…”

“... I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine. It happened centuries ago. Not a big deal you know? Besides. This is about you right now.” He gently patted Lance’s head. “I um… I’m not good at making people feel better so… I’m just gonna pat you till you feel better. Okay?”

“... Keith, you’re weird.”

“When did you figure that out?”

Lance smiled slightly and sighed. “So where do you think Shiro went? Do you think he’s gone hunting?”

Keith shrugged. “Maybe. I don’t know. I guess he just needed to be alone. He needs his space sometimes. It’s a Manticore thing.”

“Huh, okay.”

***

Shiro did know about the moral implications that came with stalking in terms of what humans felt about it. Basically it was a huge no and something you could get into a lot of trouble for. However this was just a thing between humans. Shiro wasn’t human so technically talking the person that looked like Adam wasn’t technically a crime. Though he had to admit it felt weird stalking someone he wasn’t intending on eating. 

It was like when he first met Adam except there were no wolves trying to hunt him down. So at least he wasn’t going to have to stab a wolf if they tried to eat Adam. That was one thing that Shiro was happy about in this day and age. People weren’t going to try and eat each other, normally.

From a safe distance across the campus Shiro watched the Adam look alike exit a building with his bag. He wanted to see them up close. He wanted to talk to them. He really wanted to. But what was he going to say? Tell him that he was burned alive in a previous life and Shiro was is past lover? He knew that sounded crazy.

Still, he followed this person for a good twenty minutes before he watched the man walk into a bar. He stood around outside for a bit before he decided to go in himself. He easily spotted Adam sitting at a table with another man. He had darker skin than Adam’s and he had bright blue eyes. They were smiling and talking with each other and that kind of upset Shiro. 

Shiro ordered a drink at the bar and ended up sitting near them. Just to hear what they were saying. His was pretty messed up doing this. But he felt like he had to. He needed some kind of confirmation that this person was actually Adam in more than just appearance. He knew it was a long shot and there was no way that it was true, but he had to find something.

“-That bad huh?” Asked the darker skinned man.

The look alike just sighed and knocked back his own drink. “Curtis, I wanted to stab myself in the fucking eye by lunch time. The bitch of the chemistry department is pissed at me because their stupid fucking kid isn’t passing my class. They do fuck all. I can’t give them credits. They have handed nothing in and they scored an amazing 0 in their last exam. I hate entitled parents.”

Curtis chuckled. “This is why I went into marketing. Less evil parents.”

“I should have just followed you into marketing… I’d probably be drinking less.”

Curtis shrugged. “Who knows? Maybe.” They sipped their own drink. “So you still interested in seeing Zombieland two this weekend?”

“Just try and stop me.” He quickly finished his drink and stood up. “You want another? I’m getting another.”

“Nah, I’m good Adam. Just try not to get too drunk. You know how you get when you’re drunk.”

Adam. His name was Adam. Of course he was. Was it his Adam? Of course it wasn’t his Adam but he… Shiro nervously bit his bottom lip. This wasn’t Adam, but he sure as hell wanted it to be his Adam. He wanted it to be Adam. He had to say sorry to him. He needed Adam to forgive him for everything that he failed to do for him. He wanted to keep Adam safe. He needed to keep Adam safe but he… Shiro knew that this was stupid. 

What was he even doing there? This Adam wasn’t his Adam. He was just doing some weird obsessive stalker stuff. What would he even do if he was able to talk to Adam? What would he say? Would he even want to talk to him? Probably not. It was depressing. He was depressed. Things were different now.

Adam sat back next to Curtis and sighed. “You know what? We should just go to a strip club or something.”

“... Yeah, that’s the last drink you’re allowed to have.”

“Why? Because I want to pay someone sexy to give me a lap dance to make me forget my troubles?”

“Adam, you have hardly have money for ramen. You don’t have stripper money.”

“... Fuck you Curtis.”

Shiro glanced over at the two men. Curtis was patting Adam on the back and was just shaking his head. “Just pace yourself there Adam. Once you’re done then we’ll see if you still want to go to a strip club you poor, poor bastard.”

Adam pouted. “Curtis, you’re an asshole.”

Curtis laughed. “You’re an idiot.”

“Shut up…” He muttered.

“...” This wasn’t right. Shiro shouldn’t be here. He was just upsetting himself. He should just go home and be with his Adam. His Adam was the skull resting in his room. Was this cheating? Was he technically cheating on his Adam by stalking the Adam look alike? Now he felt like shit. If Keith was with him now he’d probably punch him in the back of the head and steal his beer. The little shit.

Shiro quickly finished his drink and left without saying a word to Adam. What was he doing? Why was he doing this? His guilt ran a lot more deeply than he thought. It probably always would. He got his Adam killed. 

When he got back to the estate he found Keith, Lance and Pidge watching a movie. Hunk wasn’t back yet. Possibly still on his not a date with that Shay girl. He hoped that things were going well for him.

He put Lance’s wallet on the coffee table and Lance glanced up at him. “What did you buy?”

“A beer… What are you doing?”

“We’re watching 27 dresses.” Said Pidge. “Lance needs a pick me up after dropping out. Keith’s pissed off that any human needs twenty seven dresses.”

“Seriously! Why do you need that many?” Asked Keith. “They are all stupid and impractical!”

Lance pouted and lightly smacked Keith with a pillow. “Shut up. It’s a human thing. Wedding dresses are important.”

“It’s bullshit is what it is.” Growled Keith. Lance glared at him and thumped Keith again with the pillow.

Pidge rolled her eyes and looked up at Shiro. “You want in on this mess?”

Shiro shook his head. “No thanks. I’m kind of tired. I’m just gonna spend some time in my room.”

“Okay. Night Shiro.” Said Pidge.

“Night.” Said Lance.

“You’re going to bed?” Asked Keith.

“Yeah. I’m tired. Night guys.” Shiro went back to his room and immediately curled up around Adam’s skull. He felt so damn guilty about seeing this new Adam. No one could ever really replace Adam. He loved Adam. This Adam. Not whoever the other person was. Even if they did have Adam’s name and sounded like him he wasn’t Adam. Not at all. They wouldn’t have the same thoughts or feelings as the person that he had fallen in love with. He was still grieving over the loss of his Adam. The real Adam. He needed to sleep.


	32. Teething

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, something light and fluffy to make up for the stress and drama of the last one. Enjoy an entry from Marcello's diary. Kudos and comment when you can. Enjoy :D

Lance and Keith instantly noticed that something was wrong with Shiro. He was tired and more lethargic than normal. He stayed up in the nest and curled around Adam’s skull. He hadn’t even bothered moving from the nest to get something to eat. Luckily for the Shiro, Keith would bring him meat from the kitchen. Shiro ate some of it, but not all of it.

It worried Keith a lot. He sat by Shiro and lightly brushed his mane with his claws. A little bit of communal grooming went a long way in building bonds. “Are you okay Shiro? Did something happen the other day?”

“It’s fine Keith.” He muttered. “You don’t need to worry about me.”

“Don’t say that. You know I always worry about you.” Muttered Keith. He carefully started to untangle a rather large knot in Shiro’s mane. “You’re a big strong Manticore, but you’re still just a manticore. You’re not indestructible… I’m not going to lose you again. Not to some stupid witch or whatever mental demons you have in your head.”

He noticed Shiro roll his eyes when he talked about mental demons, which made him smile a little in turn. “Keith, you’re an idiot.”

“Says the guy that once chased a red light bug for half an hour trying to catch it.”

“Oh don’t you start now.” Whined Shiro. “You encouraged me.”

“I was a kit. I had full rights to enchourage you to do dumb things.” 

“Agreed.” Said Lance. He had been hanging out with the two demons in the nest. He was still depressed about dropping out of school, but at least Hunk was nice enough to make food for Lance so Keith didn’t have to try and use the microwave or the oven. He was just sitting by the edge of the nest reading books to do something. It seemed to make him feel a little better, so neither demon felt like arguing with him. “It’s every sibling’s job to encourage stupid shit. I did that with my siblings all the time.”

“You have littermates?” Asked Shiro.

Lance nodded. “Yeah. I’m the youngest of five. I have two older brothers and two older sisters. Marco and Luis ended up doing the most dumb shit since you know, boys are usually pretty stupid when they are teens. My sisters did dumb stuff too, but it usually involved less property damage.”

“So you’re the kit of the family?” Asked Shiro.

“I guess so.”

“I’m surrounded by kits…”

“I’m not a kit!” Snapped Keith. He roughly ran his claws through Shiro’s mane and tugged harshly on a few knots. That just made Shiro laugh. The trio fell into a comfortable silence for a few minutes before Lance started laughing quietly to himself.

“What are you reading?” Asked Shiro.

“Marcello’s diary.” Said Lance with a grin. “I found an entry talking about a certain Sin-eater kit with teething issues.”

Keith froze. “No…”

“Yes. Want to hear it Shiro?”

Shiro grinned and nodded. “Why wouldn’t I want to hear about this?”

Keith made in indignant noise and tried to bury his head under a pillow. He was so embarrassed. He was just a kit. He had both the body and mentality of an actual kit back then. They were so going to make fun of him.

Lance cleared his throat and started reading; “I had a feeling something interesting would happen today. Not something earth shattering, but something that would capture my interest. Which I am honestly dying for these days. Maybe I should take up a hobby? I have heard gardening is a good hobby? Nah, that means I’d have to clean up the greenhouse and I’m too lazy for that. But I digress, it was late in the evening when I felt a strange presence at my doorstep. It wasn’t an evil presence per say, but it interested me nonetheless-”

***

The front door opened and Marcello greeted the family with open arms. “Krolia! As beautiful as always! Such beauty, such grace. Nothing can possibly ever capture your radiant beauty.” He then turned his attention to the man with her. “And you, sir demon. Such a handsome individual. A Sin-eater perhaps? To what do I owe the pleasure?”

Krolia looked extremely confused and kind of uncomfortable. “Excuse me? Who are you?”

Marcello was confused for a moment before he chuckled. “Ah, okay. Let me guess, you used some spell and you ended up coming to see me before we met in my timeline? Not a problem.” He bowed. “I am Marcello McClain and-” He saw a very small demon boy looking up at him with big yellow eyes. “-that’s a kit.”

The demon nodded and picked them up. “Yes. This is our son. I am Akira, Krolia is my mate, and Keith is our kit.

Marcello nodded. “I see… Well hello there Keith. How are you? My name is Marcello.” He offered the kit his hand.

Keith frowned as he glared at his hand for a few seconds. Akira looked a little alarmed. “I wouldn’t put your hand so close to him if-” Keith grabbed Marcello’s hand and bit him. “-yeah… He has teething issues...”

Marcello clenched his jaw and very carefully pried his hand out of the small demon’s mouth. “I can see that… Ow… Okay, I’m going to go and put a bandage on this… You three go and have a seat in the room over there…” When he bandaged his hand and went to where he had left the family. Keith was trying to eat the armrest of the couch, while Akira and Krolia were gently scolding him and trying to get him to stop.

“Keith, you need to stop that now.” Said Akira firmly. Keith growled and bit the couch arm more.

“Keith. That is not appropriate.” Said Krolia. Keith growled louder and ripped a chunk out of the couch. “Keith!”

Marcello chuckled and sat in a chair. “Don’t worry about it. Kits will be kits.Anyway, you want to stop him from biting everything?”

Akira nodded. “Yes please. We’ve tried everything we could think of; wormwood, arsenic, belladonna, dragon ashes, dead man’s blood. Everything. He just keeps chewing everything. He ripped the tendons out of the back of one of Krolia’s coven the other day and hid in the wall to eat them.”

“... I see.” Marcello looked down at Keith who was innocently pulling a couch cushion apart with his teeth. “... Okay. I think I have a few things we can try.” He waved his hand and a small case appeared in his lap. “Alright let’s see what I have... Is he allergic to anything?”

Krolia shook her head. “No. Keith has no allergies.”

“Okay, let’s start with this.” He took out a small red bottle and gave it a quick shake. “Rosewood, fairy essence and partridgeberries. Can you have Keith open his mouth?”

Akira carefully pried Keith’s mouth open and Marcello managed to drop a few droplets of the mix into Keith’s mouth before the tiny demon started screeching and biting Akria’s fingers to get them out of his mouth. When he was free from Akira, Keith pulled a face and started spitting and drooling.

“Keith.” Scolded Krolia. “You don’t spit or drool. You’re a big kit now.”

Marcello chuckled. “Don’t be too hard on him. It’s quite bitter and nasty tasting. Kits don’t like it and to be honest I don’t like it either.” He gave Keith a pillow to see if he would bite it. Seconds later Keith ripped it apart and tried to use the fluff inside it to scrub his tongue clean. That just made Marcello laugh. Kits were so adorably stupid. “I don’t think it worked very well.”

Krolia nodded in agreement. “He does that with everything else we have tried.” When Keith was satisfied that he couldn’t taste the tonic anymore he happily went back to chewing on the side of the couch. Akira sighed and attempted to pry Keith off it. It wasn’t going very well.

While that happened Marcello looked through his box and picked up a blue bottle. “Okay, how about Jerusalem cherry, yew seeds, and black Mamba venom? It works pretty well for stopping most hell hounds from biting people they shouldn’t.”

As soon as they gave it to Keith the kit attempted to grab the bottle out of Marcello’s hand so he could drink it. “Gimme juice!” He whined. “Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!”

“Ah, you don’t say gimme.” Said Akira in a calm but stern voice. “What do you say when you want something?”

Keith pouted but kept reaching for the bottle. “Please gimme juice.”

“I’m sorry Keith, but this is medicine.” Said Marcello. “Not juice.”

“HISSSSSS!!!”

“No!” Snapped Krolia. “You do not hiss when things do not go your way. That is very rude.”

“...” Keith glared at Marcello. Clearly he wasn’t happy about being denied what he thought was juice.

Marcello took out another bottle and have it a few hard shakes. “Mandrake root, holly berries, and mistletoe. It’s usually used for cave dwelling creatures that have fungal infections, but this is good for stopping things from biting other things.” He gave some to Keith and the poor kit started crying and spitting.

Krolia quickly cuddled Keith and gently patted his back. “It’s okay love. Are you okay? Does it just taste bad? Does your mouth hurt?”

“Taste bad.” He sobbed. “No more. Don’t like.”

She gently patted his back and looked over at Marcello. “I think we should stop.”

Marcello nodded in agreement. “Clearly this is stressing your kit out too much. I’m still willing to help and I am more than happy for you to stay here as long as you wish. I like helping those who need help.”

The adults gave each other a slightly concerned look as if they were having a mental conversation, which they probably were. After a few minutes they agreed to stay for a few days, but would leave before the week was up if Marcello couldn’t help their son.

Marcello liked a challenge and happily set the family up in a room. He spent most of the night in his study looking up different remedies to help Keith stop biting everyone and everything that came across his face. Eventually as he worked he heard something scratching and scrambling around. It confused him a little. That was until he saw the metal grate popping out of the wall and Keith dragging himself through. 

Once the small demon had gotten through he sat down and started scratching and cleaning his claws while he looked around the room. Though he jumped in surprise when he saw Marcello was there in the room too.

“... Shouldn’t you be with your dar and sar at the moment?” He asked.

Keith pouted and crossed his arms. “Essploring.”

“You mean exploring?”

“Yes. Essploring.”

Marcello nodded and sat down near the kit. “I see. So you decided to explore when your dar and sar are sleeping?”

“Imma big kit.”

“Yes you are. You’re a very big kit.” Agreed Marcello. “So, can you tell me about why you’re chewing everything? Your teeth have come in quite well already.”

“Teeth hurt.” Said Keith. “Biting makes mouth feel good.”

Marcello nodded. “I see, well let’s try something.” He waved his hand and summoned a box of things. Stuff like rubber balls, pieces of wood, metal, plastic, and foam. “You can chew on any of the things in here you want. You just have to tell me what ones you like the most and why you like them. Okay?”

Keith nodded and happily picked up the things and started chewing on them. He liked wood and metal because they were hard, but they didn’t spring back, which was bad. The rubber ball was springy but too soft. Plastic and foam felt nice in his mouth, but it was too easy for him to rip it apart.

After much consideration Marcello had an idea. A few months ago someone who had brought their hell hound in had given Marcello some hell hound toys in case he ever came into contact with another hell hound again. One of them would be perfect for Keith. He waved his hand and summoned a red rubber stick covered in different textures.

“Have a go at this.”

Keith was skeptical at first, but quickly took to the hell hound toy and happily chewed it. Marcello was very pleased that the kit now had a proper outlet and happily informed his parents. They were relieved that Keith had something else to crew rather than other people. They had been more concerned about Keith randomly biting people than him actually biting in general.

***

“-the family left the next day.” Read Lance. “The next time I talked to Krolia I mentioned that I just helped her fix Keith’s teething problem. She laughed and said to her that was centuries ago for her and she was glad I finally caught up.”

Shiro couldn’t help but laugh. “Really? A hell hound chew toy?”

Keith groaned in annoyance. “Shut up… I was really little then…”

“Aw, that’s still cute.” Cooed Lance. “I can’t believe you were trying to drink medicine and calling it juice… And all that shit was poison.”

“It tasted sweet to me.” Grumbled Keith. “Demons aren’t affected by most human poisons, so shut it.”

Shiro chuckled and patted Keith’s back. “It’s okay. We all did dumb things at kits.”

“Oh yeah? What did you do?” Asked Keith.

“You will never know.” Said Shiro. “You weren’t around when I was a kit.” Keith huffed and bit his ear. “Ow! You little shit!”

Keith poked his tongue out and walked out of the room. “I’m getting meat. Shiro, what meat do you want?”

“Lamb.”

“Okay. Lance… I’ll get you something.”

***

Lance rolled his eyes when Keith left the room. “What’s his problem?”

“It’s a young adult thing.” Said Shiro. “He’s trying to assert himself as an adult with limited results.” He sighed a little and sat up. “So… You feeling a little better today?”

“I could ask you the same thing.” Said Lance. “Like, I know why I’m depressed as fuck, but what’s eating you up?”

Shiro frowned a little and looked down at Adam’s skull. “Nothing… I just… The other day I saw someone when we were out and they looked like Adam.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah… No big deal it happens sometimes. Some days I’ll see a man and there will be someone that looks like him and it just… It sets me off a little.”

Lance frowned slightly when he said that. “Yeah, I can see how that would mess someone up. Is there something we can do for you?”

“Just give me time.” Said Shiro. “I need time and space to heal and stop feeling so guilty… I saw him and I just kept thinking about how I failed him and how I could have done things differently… Is reincarnation real? As souls real?”

“I’m not sure.” Said Lance. “I’ve read things that talk about imprints and souls so I guess souls are probably a thing. I don’t really have any idea how that actually works… Do you think that person you saw is a reincarnation of Adam?”

Shiro shrugged. “I don’t know… and it confuses me. Like, what if it is him? If he remembers me somehow he’ll hate me forever. He’ll never be able to forgive me for getting him killed… But if he doesn’t recognize me and I… I’m worried I might snap and do something I will regret…”

“Like what?”

“No idea.” Muttered Shiro. “I’ll probably kidnap him and do something that will hurt him just to hear him tell me that he hates me… It’s terrible isn’t it? I want him to forgive me but at the same time I want him to curse my whole existence. It’s a bit of a conflict of interest huh?”

“Sounds like it…” Said Lance. “But I’m no psych major so I have no idea what is really going on with your head besides lots of guilt. That’s all I can think of. Sorry.”

“It’s fine.” Said Shiro calmly. “I didn’t expect any less… I’ll get over it eventually… I’ll just stay in this room for the rest of my life and wish I was dead.”

“Big fucking mood…” He leaned against Shiro and started looking through it again. Five seconds later Lance got hit in the face with a full pack of cookies. “Ow! The fuck?”

Keith rolled his eyes and sat next to Shiro with a tub of lamb meat. “Hunk said sugar is good for humans when they feel sad and told me to feed you some cookies. Be grateful. Asshole.” Lance rolled his eyes and ate some of the cookies. It was nice, even if Keith was kind of a dick about it.


	33. Suit up

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You know... I wonder how Lance's parents will react to Lance dropping out... Since after all they would have to have been the ones paying for his education and stuff... Kudos and comment when you can. Enjoy :D

It was cold. Very cold and dark. The only light Lance could see was from a single window, and even then it only showed a dull blue light. His eyes rolled around in his head as he tried to focus on anything in the darkness. He couldn’t move. Couldn’t speak. Could he even breathe? He looked up at the window again and wondered what was watching him or what they wanted from him.

Suddenly another light filled the room from a small door in the corner of the room. Two people walked in and they were tiny. They carrying boxes of stuff in and dumped it on the ground. Things clattered and rattled and rolled across the ground. It sounded a little like a lot of wood, bones, or something similar.

“How many more do we have to get?” Asked the first one.

“I think we have just one more box.” Said the second. “I can’t believe we almost have them all. Who would have thought a Key had this many bones?”

“Look at their skull.” Said the first one as they pointed directly at Lance. “Size of a fucking house.”

“I know, but still… You know where the last one’s are right?”

“We have one more box coming in from a natural history museum in New Zealand.” Said the first one. “After that the last one I think is in the possession of the warlock.”

“Oh that’ll be fun.” Grumbled the second one. “I hate dealing with warlocks. They are such assholes.”

“I know… Wanna grab a beer?”

“Fuck yeah.” The two walked out of the room and plunged the whole room back into semi-darkness. 

Lance blinked a few times and tried to look around the room. Slowly his eyes were adjusting to the darkness now and he could kind of see bones. A lot of bones. Thousands of them. Were they his bones? They said that they were his bones. Right? But they couldn’t be his bones. They called him Key. Was he a Key? He wasn’t sure.

***

Lance woke up with a jump and instantly smashed his face against Shiro’s robot arm, almost knocking his teeth out. He groaned in pain as he clutched his mouth. “OW! FUCK!”

Keith rolled over and cracked open one eye to look at him. “Why are you screaming so early in the morning?”

Shiro yawned and moved his arm off them. “What’s going on?”

Lance grumbled as he held his mouth. “Fucking… I had a weird dream, woke up, and smashed my face against your arm Shiro. It hurt.”

“Oh… Sorry about that.” Shiro moved around and tucked his robotic arm under himself. “Do you need some ice or something?”

“No…” Muttered Lance. He sat up and sighed heavily. “I think I dreamed about something real that was happening…”

“Like a vision?” Asked Shiro. “Some kind of astral projection?”

“I hope I never astral project again.” Muttered Lance. “I think it was more like a vision. Like I was there, but I wasn’t… I just… It was weird. I think I was the skull of the Key in the Daibazzal coven…”

That immediately caught Keith’s attention. “You what?”

“Yeah… They almost have all the bones. They are getting the last large amount from New Zealand soon and then they just have my ring left.” He didn’t know if this was real or some stress based dream. Even if it was he still needed to be cautious. It could be magic related. He didn’t want it to be, but he knew it was possible.

Keith reached out and touched his arm. “Hey, don’t worry about it. You know we’re not going to let those fuckers come anywhere near you, right?”

Shiro nodded in agreement and and curled around the two smaller males. “We’re not going to let them anywhere near you. Hell I won’t let them anywhere near the house. The second one of them sets foot on the property I’m eating them.”

“Go ahead.” Muttered Lance. He sighed and got up. “Well not that I’m up I might as well eat something.” He grabbed his phone on the way out and instantly died when he saw the half a dozen messages and missed calls from his parents. He quickly went through every reason why they would be calling him till he settled on one reason, and one reason only. His parents were paying for him to go to school He dropped out. His parents were probably notified about that. “Oh shit…”

Lance nervously paced the hallway as he called his mama. The second she picked up he got an earful. _“LANCE AMADOR MCCLAIN! WHAT DID YOU DO?! WHY DID YOU DROP OUT?!”_

She yelled a little more in Spanish at him, so Lance held the phone away from his ear. She was loud enough without it. Of course she would be furious with him. Any parent would be. It made sense. He deserved this. She deserved a better son. Well, she had two others to choose from anyway.

When she took a moment to catch her breath Lance quickly interjected. “I’m sorry mama… I just… I couldn’t do it anymore. I’m just not cut out for that kind of stuff.”

_“... What is going on Lance? You were so excited and doing so well… I’m coming over.”_

“What?”

_“I already have your new address. I’ll be over in two hours.”_

“WHAT?!” Lance was more than a little stunned. “MAMA! YOU CAN’T JUST-!”

_“I will see you soon Lance.”_

She hung up and Lance stared at his phone in shock. This was bad. Really, really bad. He ran back to Shiro and Keith. They both looked concerned when they saw him. “Shiro! You have to look human today! Keith! Don’t act weird!”

Shiro looked confused but quickly changed into his human form. “What’s going on Lance?”

“My mama’s coming over!”

“Oh. It’s been a while since we’ve met a warlock’s sar.” Said Shiro. “Is she also a warlock or is she part of a-”

“SHE DOESN’T KNOW ABOUT MAGIC!” Panicked Lance. “SHE DOESN’T KNOW ABOUT ANY OF THIS! SHE DOESN’T KNOW ABOUT EITHER OF YOU! FUCK!”

“So we have to pretend to be human?” Asked Keith.

“YES!”

“Sounds like too much effort.” Keith stretched and lied back down. “Just tell her you’re a warlock and you have two demons living with you. I don’t see what the big deal is.”

Lance could feel his eye twitching. “Keith, it is a big deal. A huge deal, and I swear to whatever thing you believe in that created your soul that if you and Shiro don’t pretend to be human around her or any of my family I will personally yeet your fucking souls to the astral plane!”

Keith seemed to be taken aback by that statement. “So that’s an order then?”

“Damn right that’s an order! Argh! I’m surrounded by idiots!” Lance threw his hands up in the air and stormed out of the room. He needed to at least warn Hunk and Pidge about the absolute shit show that was about to happen.

***

Hunk and Pidge weren’t going to be there that day. They both had to either go to school, or had an internship thing to do. So it was just Lance and the demons who would have to deal with mama McClain. Lance was internally screaming as the time drew closer and closer. She was so going to kick his ass. He really hoped that Shiro and Keith would stay away from her so he wouldn’t have to explain anything.

When he heard a knock at the door he quickly raced over and opened it up. His mother was standing there looking very concerned. “Lance.”

“Mama…” He hugged her and stood back. “Come in?”

She walked inside and looked around. “Oh wow… This place is huge. I can’t believe my brother had a house like this…”

“Yeah. It’s pretty unique… So um, sitting room?”

The two of them walked to the sitting room and sat down on some very plush chairs. Lance was nervous as hell. She didn’t look happy at all. She looked very upset with him. Of course she was. No mother wouldn’t be.

“So um… How are you mama?”

“I’m good… Why did you drop out? You were doing so well. Are people being mean to you?”

Lance quickly shook her head. “No way. Nothing like that I just… I…” He needed to think fast. “I um… Some stuff came up. Just a bunch of little things, and one day I woke up and I just couldn’t do it anymore. I was just hit with an overwhelming feeling that I just couldn’t do it… I’m sorry mama…”

“...” She sighed and took a moment to put her thoughts into words. “Lance, I’m not going to lie. I am a little mad at you and kind of upset. I would have hoped that you would have talked to us before you just dropped out like that. It’s been your dream since you’ve been in high school to be a teacher.”

“I know mama… I just… It’s too much… I’m sorry…”

She nodded along. “I see. Have you thought about seeing a therapist? It’s not like you don’t have the monsey to do so now.” She said as she gestured around the room. “I swear one of these rooms is larger than our whole house. It must be so lonely living here alone.”

“Oh, I don’t live alone.” Said Lance. “Pidge and Hunk live here too. They keep things interesting.”

“Just Pidge and Hunk?”

“Um… Well… There are two other people living here…” He didn’t really want to tell her about the demons, but she might run into them and if that happened, he needed to explain them away.

Suddenly Shiro walked in. He was wearing a black suit complete with gloves. He looked like a butler. He just smiled. “Oh, sorry for interrupting young Master McClain. I noticed a car outside and wanted to inform you that your mother was here, but I can see there was no need.”

Mama McClain and Lance had the exact same shocked and confused expression planted across both their faces. “Um… Who might you be?” She asked in a slightly concerned voice.

“Allow me to introduce myself.” Said Shiro as he bowed. “My name is Takashi Shirogane. Butler to the McClain estate. I answer the door, clean up the estate, and I take out the trash. I deeply regret not being able to answer the door earlier Mrs McClain. Young Master McClain was insistent that he answer it himself, so I was helping my brother with some of his yard duties.”

“Your brother?” She questioned.

“Yes my brother. Keith Kogane. He would be considered the groundskeeper and general handyman of the estate. Though since there isn’t much work outside that needs to be done today he is helping me inside. I hope you do not mind Master McClain?”

Lance was more than a little shocked. Since when the fuck did Shiro dress like a butler and call him Master McClain? “I um… Do what you like?”

Shiro nodded and looked over at the door just as Keith walked in. He was also wearing a suit and had his hair tied back into a low ponytail. He was carrying a tray with a silver tea set. He said nothing as he placed it on the table. “The tea you requested Master McClain.”

“Um… Thanks Keith?”

“Ah you boys are so young!” Gasped mama McClain. “Lance, since when did you hire staff? That is just lazy!”

“W-wait mama! I-”

Shiro quickly interjected. “If you would allow me, I’ll explain. My brother and I were in the previous employment of Marcello McClain. We had a contract, which ends early next year, and we discussed terms with Lance when he became the owner of the property. He was kind enough to allow us to stay here and continue our duties with the possibility of job renewal if he feels as though he needs help maintaining the property. We both enjoy and appreciate the work. It also gives us time to look for new employment and housing if Lance decides to let us go.” 

“Only way I can save up for college.” Muttered Keith.

“What do you want to study?” She asked.

“Biochemistry.” He said without missing a beat.

“I wish you the best of luck.”

“Thank you Mrs McClain.” Keith glanced over at Lance. “Young Master McClain if that is all-”

“Oh, r-right. You two can go. You’re dismissed.” The two demons nodded and quietly left.

Lance felt like he was going to have a stroke. What the fuck were they doing? Did he tell them to act like the hired help? He said act like humans. What the fuck was wrong with them? He was going to yeet their souls to the astral plane when all this was said and done.

“So… You have servants?”

“I-I couldn’t just throw them out.” Said Lance quickly as he started to lie is ass off as best he could. “And they are really nice guys. They get along pretty well with everyone. I um, I pay them to keep the house clean and the grounds well kept. They are cool with it and they usually wear more comfortable clothes. I have no idea why they are wearing suits. They usually just wear more casual clothes and call me Lance. I didn’t tell them to call me Master McClain or anything.”

She nodded a little. “Well, as long as they are doing what they need to do and you are paying them properly… I guess there is nothing wrong with it…”

“Y-yeah.” Said Lance quietly. “They um… They are good people. Very helpful… Though they are apparently kind of extra… Seriously, they don’t normally wear suits or anything like that. Like, they usually just wear shirts and jeans I swear.” He was so embarrassed.

Mama McClain just nodded and chuckled. “Well they seem like nice jokesters. Did they really work for you uncle?”

“Apparently so.”

“I see… But you are taking care of yourself, right?”

“Of course I am mama.” Lance poured her and himself some tea. He quickly tried it before his mother did just in case it wasn’t made right and tasted bad. It was the calming tea Allura had given him. It seemed practically impossible to mess this up.

“That’s good… You know I worry about you a lot Lance.” She said. “I just want to make sure that you are alright.”

After that the conversation had become a lot less tense. As it turned out, mama McClain was just really worried something bad had happened to Lance to make him drop out. She informed him about what was happening with the rest of the family. Apparently Luis ended up getting and selling the Porsche 968 he inherited and invested it in a trust fund for his kids. They were going to be extremely well off when they got older. The cars she and pop-pop ended up getting were all sold apart from the Rolls-Royce Phantom V because pop-pop wanted to keep one. His sisters were doing well too. Veronica got a promotion at work and Rachel got better hours at the call center.

When they finished talking the two of them went for a walk around the house. She, like Lance had first been, was a little put off by all the weird art. Though she had to admit that this was all very much Marcello.

They ended up walking into the office and mama McClain’s eyes fell of some animal skulls on display in a case on a shelf. “Oh, she was still into this stuff…”

“This stuff?”

She nodded. “Yeah. When we were kids he got in trouble a lot for this kind of stuff…”

***

When Rosa was just five years old she was happily playing outside the house while looking for Marcello. Her own mother had told her to find him. Being just a little girl she did as her mother said and walked to the shed. Marcello usually stayed around there when he was at home. She assumed that it was because Marcello and her parents were always yelling at each other.

She walked around the back of the shed and saw her brother crouching over a turned over tub. “Marcello!” She called out as she skipped over to him. He was sixteen now. Ten years older than her and one of the nicest people she knew.

The older male jumped a little and quickly stood up. “Rosa? What are you doing here? Did mama send you?”

The little girl nodded. “Mama wants you inside for something… What are you doing? What’s under the tub?”

“...” Marcello stood in front of the tub. “It’s a secret. Mama and papa would get very angry at me if they knew about it.”

“... Why?”

He thought for a moment before he relented. “Look, remember how mama wanted me to throw out the dead chickens when those mean animals got into the coop and ate some?” Rosa nodded. “Well I kept one because I wanted to see their skeleton.”

“Why?” Rosa was very confused.

“Well, books are expensive and this is easier for me to do it this way.” He gestured to the tub. “Under the tub is the dead chicken and an ant kill. The ants eat the chicken and leave the bones. I brush the ants off the bones and put them in a box… Please don’t tell mama and papa about this. They will get mad at me.”

“Why? Bones are cool!”

He chuckled and picked her up, messing with her hair. “Well for some reason mama and papa think me keeping bones is a bad thing. But it’s not that bad. Museums have bones in them and they aren’t bad places. Right?”

Rosa giggled and cuddled her older brother. “Hmm yeah. I guess so… Okay. I won’t tell mama or papa. I’ll keep it a secret.”

“Good girl Rosa.” He happily spun her around a few times. “I’ll give you a candy tonight before you go to bed if you do not tell them.”

She giggled and put her hands over her mouth. “Not a soul. I can keep a secret.”

“Good girl. Love you Rosa.”

“Love you too Marcello.”

***

“He was a very strange man.” She said with a hint of sadness. “I wish I had tried harder to find him… I mean, he was my big brother. I loved him so much but he just… I sometimes wonder if my parents got rid of any letters he sent after they kicked him out…”

Lance nodded and gently patted her on the shoulder. “I know mama… I’m sure they had their reasons?”

“I guess…”

There was a knock at the door and Keith was standing there still in that stupid suit. Lance wanted to strangle him. “Master Lance, Mrs McClain, I am so sorry to interrupt. I was just coming to see if Mrs McClain would be staying for lunch.”

“Oh, no dear.” She said quickly. “I just needed to make sure that Lance was okay. I have so many other things I need to do today.”

“As you wish.” He turned to leave and Lance was quickly following him.

“Be back in a second mama, just gotta talk to Keith about something.” When they were both out in the hallway Lance dragged Keith into the first empty room. “What the fuck Keith? Like seriously what the fuck are you two doing?”

Keith raised an eyebrow. “Um, acting human? Shiro and I are literally your demon servants. Be thankful we decided to stick with that backstory. It was a choice between that and actual slaves. We had to do a quick bit of reading before we found out that you can’t own slaves anymore in this country so we’re hired help.”

“You could have just said you guys were my friends.”

“... That never occurred to us…” Keith actually seemed genuinely surprised Lance would suggest them being friends. “We were just going off traditional demon and witch relationships. Long term we’re usually servants. We aren’t seen as equals to other humans and that’s kind of it. This was just the default human thing we could identify as if you can understand that… But you gotta admit Shiro looks pretty good in a suit.”

Lance sighed and shook his head. “For fuck’s sake… Yeah, you both look pretty good in suits, and I gotta say you have the cutest little ponytail I’ve ever seen.”

“Huh? I do?” Keith frowned and touched his hair. “Is this what this hairstyle is called? Shiro just tied it back for me and said it would look more professional if it was like this… Also I hate these suits. They are stuffy, too tight, and look stupid. Also, my feet hurt. These shoes are awful.”

Lance couldn’t help but chuckle. “Geeze, if you hate it so much then why did you do it?”

“Because you ordered us to act human in front of your sar and the rest of your pack.” Said Keith like it was the most obvious thing in the world. “If I’m going to act the part I need to look the part. Right?”

“I guess… But you and Shiro need to tone down the whole Master McClain shit. It’s weird and I don’t like it.”

“Oh, okay. We can do that.” Said Keith. “Next time you want Shiro and I to act human be more specific in your instructions. Never of us are mind readers. Okay?”

“Yeah okay… Just let Shiro know too. Okay? Mama’s going to be leaving soon so you guys can drop the act soon.”

Keith seemed relieved. “Thank fuck. I hate these stupid shoes and Shiro’s itching to change back into his Manticore form.”

Lance smiled a little and patted his shoulder. “Just hang in there for another hour. Mama has things to do.”

“Okay. Well until then I should tell Shiro he doesn’t have to try and make sandwiches.” Said Keith. “He’ll destroy the kitchen.”


	34. The Stars and the Moon

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Time for something nicer and... what is that? Is someone starting to develop the dreaded feels? Perhaps they are... Kudos and comment when you can. Enjoy :D

When Hunk and Pidge heard about what Keith and Shiro had done they wouldn’t stop laughing. It made Lance want to scream. It wasn’t funny. No matter how funny they thought it was. Shiro and Keith didn’t seem to know what he was making such a big deal about. They just did what he wanted them to do and they followed his orders.

“You should have taken pictures!” Howled Pidge. “I would have paid to see that, especially since they now looks like that!”

She gestured over to Keith who was currently wearing shorts and a shirt just that little too big for him. He looked like he was doing some weird yoga, kind of like a cat trying to groom itself, but Keith was biting his toes. Shiro was back to being a manticore and cleaning his spike covered tail. He pulled out any loose ones out with his teeth and spat them out into a pile. Neither of them looked very dignified now.

Keith looked over at them with confusion. “What?”

“Nothing.” Said Pidge in a sing song voice. “Anyway, glad your mum didn’t rip you a new one.”

“Yeah. She was just worried about my mental health.” Said Lance. “We had a good talk about it and I’m thinking that maybe once I’ve got my magic stuff under control I could have a go at teaching again. It’ll be fun.”

Hunk smiled a little. “Really? You’re actually going to try this magic stuff?”

“Well yeah.” Said Lance with a small smile. “Talking with her kind of put things into perspective for me. So now I’m gonna take the rest of the day to relax, calm down, and then start doing magic stuff when Keith says I’m allowed to. I’m apparently still not allowed to do it. Doctor’s orders or whatever.”

“So… Movie night?” Suggested Hunk.

“Hell yeah movie night!” Lance was super stoked. He might have been emotionally drained after everything that happened today, but that was nothing a bunch of romcoms couldn’t fix.

Everyone ended up settled in front of the TV. Everyone ended up leaning against Shiro. He didn’t mind. He seemed to like being used as furniture by everyone else. Getting his own cow leg to gnaw on helped a lot too. Though he did growl a few times when Keith tried to take it from him. Everyone else just ignored them and ate their own snacks. 

“Hand it over.” Growled Keith.

“Get your own cow bone.” Snarled Shiro. “This one’s mine.”

“I just wanna have a little bone marrow.”

“I’d sooner stab you in the eye with this than let you have it.”

“... HISSSSSSS!!!”

“Shut up!” Snapped Lance. “This is the best part of Mean Girls!” The best part being the part where Regina George gets hit by a bus. Lance could watch the scene all day.

Keith pouted and grumbled. “I want a bone too…”

Lance rolled his eyes and nudges Pidge. “Pidge, get Keith a bone from the fridge.”

“Can’t.” She said.

“Why?”

“I’m a vegan. Can’t touch meat or anything like that. I find it disgusting you filthy animal eating heathens.”

Lance looked at her and looked down at the bowl of nachos in her lap. “... You’re eating nachos. Sour cream, cheese, and ground beef.”

“Ah, but you see I am eating it so you don’t eat it. Therefore if I eat it I am a better vegan than you are.”

“... What kind of backwards logic is that?”

She shrugged. “It’s Pidge logic. Don’t try and fuck with it. Also, he’s your demon. You summoned him in the first place. You take care of him.”

“She does have a point.” Said Hunk. “He’s kind of your pet, in a weird sort of way… Though since he can think and communicate like a human he’s more like a slave? Oh god, you have a slave…”

“Keith isn’t a slave!” Snapped Lance.

“Eh, I am kind of a slave.” Said Keith.

Lance glared at him. “You’re not a slave. Shut up.”

“I follow your orders, you give me a place to stay and food if you want. Like seriously you could have just left me to fend for myself.”

“You’re not a slave damn it! Argh! Fine! I’ll get it!” Lance got up and came back with a bone. He bopped Keith in the head with it and shoved it in his face. “Eat it.”

Keith glared at him and ripped the bone from his hands before he started gnawing on it. As he gnawed Shiro stopped and nudged him. “And what do you say?”

“... Thanks Lance.”

Pidge and Hunk snickered a little and went back to watching the movie. Lance relaxed as he leaned into Shiro’s side whileKeith occasionally bumped his arm as he gnawed on his cow bone. It was odd. Everything was odd, but at the same time Lance was kind of happy like this? It was hard to describe. Maybe he was just feeling better after talking with his mama and the possibility of guilt was completely gone.

***

During their viewing of Legally Blond 2, Lance finally fell asleep. Shiro was just so soft and comfortable. He was pretty sure that Pidge and Hunk fell asleep on Shiro too. It was nice. When was the last time they did something like this? Probably when they were still in high school.

Halfway through the night he felt something lightly pressing up against his side. Kind of felt like someone poking him. It was probably Pidge. The little gremlin had pokey fingers. With much effort he opened an eye and glanced over at what was touching him only to find it was Keith lightly gripping his arm in his sleep. Which was weird. When they usually slept in their little nest Keith would starfish out and would be as far away from Lance as possible while still having at least one of Shiro’s paws holding him down.

He started to wake up and Lance quickly closed his eyes. He felt Keith move away from him. In fact, he felt Keith get up and walk away. Lance opened his eyes and looked over at the doorway just in time to see Keith walking away. He kind of wanted to go after him, but more than likely Keith was going to the bathroom. After about ten minutes when Keith didn’t come back Lance decided to get up and have a look for him.

He very carefully got up, making sure not to wake anyone else up and carefully walked down the hall. Lance quickly checked the bathrooms. Keith was in none of those. Which confused Lance a lot. Where did the demon boy run off to? Also how the absolute fuck was he meant to find Keith in his house? There were three floors not including the basement and the attic. He wasn’t even sure he had been in every room yet.

“Fuck it. Guess I’ll just start opening doors…” He muttered. Much to Lance’s surprise the first door he opened lead to the roof. Which was weird because he was on the ground floor. But then again the house was complete magic bullshit so who was he to judge?

He walked out onto the roof and shuddered a little at the chill in the air. Apart from that, the night was kind of nice. It didn’t take Lance long to find Keith. He had perched himself up on the tallest point of the house and was just staring up at the sky. It was a little cloudy so he couldn’t see many stars.

“... You okay there?” Lance called out.

“Just thinking.” Replied Keith.

Lance nodded and slowly walked over to him, being very careful of his footing. “Thinking about what? Life? Death? The very existence of god himself?”

“... Why do humans think people with blond hair are dumb?” Asked Keith.

“What?”

“That woman in that movie was very smart. She was just blond. A hair colour shouldn’t dictate how smart or dumb someone is.” Said Keith. “Humans are incredibly prejudice for stupid reasons.”

“And demon’s aren’t?”

“To be fair most of my opinions about groups of demons come from seeing how big another demon is along with how likely they are to want to eat me.”

“... Okay.” Lance looked up at the moon. It was crescent tonight. “So, you just here thinking about stupid human stereotypes or do you have other things on your mind?”

Keith was quiet for a few moments before he spoke. “I had a dream about my dar… I miss him.”

“Oh… Was it a good dream you had?”

“It was a dream.” Said Keith. “Neither good nor bad. It just… It just reminded me how much I miss him. So I thought I’d just come up here for a while and just…”

“Just?”

“Just.”

Lance nodded and looked up at the stars and clouds. “So… Is this what the night sky looks like in hell?”

“Kind of. We have twin moons.”

“Really?”

Keith nodded. “Yeah. One the size of your moon and one slightly smaller. The smaller one kind of a moon for the moon, and the night sky is different depending on where you are.” He said. “Where I lived the night sky was always kind of purple. Where Shiro when he was a kit the night sky was tinted red. Where my dar was born it was apparently green… It’s odd to me to see a night sky that is blue.”

“It’s blue to you?” Asked Lance. “It looks black to me.”

“Guess my eyesight is slightly better than yours.”

“I guess so.” Lance sat on the roof and hummed softly. “So… What else can you tell me about hell?”

“It’s kind of like earth. Different regions with different seasons and stuff.” Said Keith. “Where Shiro and I lived there was lots of sand and caves. We made our den in this nice cave. It had some glow worms in it so it was like the stars were out all the time… But they moved and wiggled sometimes.”

“That’s actually pretty cool.”

“Yeah.” Keith smiled at him. “It was nice. The glow worms were good when we couldn’t find anything to eat and they were a pretty good source of water when times were hard.”

“Um…”

Keith laughed when he saw Lance’s expression. “It was only sometimes man. We did get regular rain, but the sun was so harsh everything would dry up after about a day. So we didn’t have to eat glow worms that often. Only when we had to.”

“I’ve never had to eat bugs before.”

“Yeah, probably a really gross thing to a human, huh?”

Lance shrugged. “Not really. Some people eat bugs. I can find some videos about it if you want to have a look at it.”

Keith seemed surprised. “Huh? Really? That’s… That’s pretty cool.”

“Yeah… So, what do you think of earth? Like it? Hate it?”

“It’s different.” Said Keith. “A nice different, but still different.”

Lance nodded and leaned back on the roof. “So… What was the plan?”

“The plan?”

“Yeah. When I first met Krolia she was going on about how you were too immature to be on earth yet and junk.” Said Lance. “It sounded like your parents were planning to bring you to earth when you were an adult.”

Keith shrugged. “I don’t know. I guess I could always ask her the next time I see her… Maybe the plan was for my dar and I to just join the Marmora coven? I don’t know how that would work… Maybe we would have to work at their law firm or something?”

Lance chuckled. “Oh yeah, I can just imagine you working in HR and getting into so much trouble.”

Keith rolled his eyes. “Yeah, no. No way I would do something like that. It’s bullshit… But I know they would put me somewhere. I’d probably be working front desk or something. Which I would hate.”

“I know.” Lance couldn’t help but laugh. Keith would be shit at any job where he had to talk to people. “Maybe you’d do well as a mail boy or something?”

They both shared a laugh at that, though Lance wasn’t sure that Keith knew what mail was at this point. It didn’t really matter that much. It made Keith happy and that was all that really mattered.

“... Hey Keith?”

“Yeah?”

“Is there anywhere on earth you want to go?” Asked Lance. “Like anywhere. Name a place and we can go there.”

“Huh? What are you talking about?”

Lance shrugged. “I have too much money and nothing to do with it. Classes are gonna end for Hunk and Pidge pretty soon… So like, we could go on a holiday for a place for like a week.” He said. “Do you like the ocean?”

Keith shuddered. “Yeah, not fond of the ocean. Pretty much everything in the oceans in hell will murder you several times before you drown. Everything also has like twenty mouths and a billion teeth. Not fun at all. Stay the fuck away from the oceans in hell.”

“... Okay, beach holiday is out.” Muttered Lance. “Well, you think about it. Pretty sure Kolivan could make some fake passports and IDs for you and Shiro if you wanna go somewhere overseas like Cuba, France, Japan, Australia, England. All those places.”

Keith looked surprised for a moment before he smiled. Instantly Lance felt warmth rushing through him and his stomach did small flips. He didn’t really know what to think about this, but he felt his face suddenly get very warm.

“Thanks Lance. That’s really nice of you.”

Lance blushed more and quickly averted his eyes. “I um… It’s nothing… W-why did you come up to the roof in the first place?”

Keith shrugged. “Nostalgia I guess? When I got sad or upset Shiro would sometimes take me for a night flight… Can’t really do that anymore since Shiro’s lost his wings. I know he misses flying too. It was something we both loved… I think he’s resigned himself to the fact he won’t fly again but I… Do you think you could find something to help him?”

“Um… I don’t know. I can try but…”

“I’m not expecting a miracle here.” Said Keith quickly. “I’m realistic… Just if… you know. It would be nice.”

Lance nodded in agreement. “Yeah. I can look into it… Hopefully I can just find a magic object or something and that would be good…”

They continued to talk about various things for hours. Lance found he actually liked hearing Keith talk about hell. The places he described were nice enough with vivid imagery about lunar events and the strange natural phenomenon that always seemed to happen every other week, to some of the off wildlife he would sometimes come across. Turns out when he was talking about glow worms these things were the size of potatoes and tried to keep one as a pet. Shiro made him out it back.

In turn Keith listened to Lance talking about anything and everything human. He talked about the weird human thing known as the Black Friday sales. He talked about some of the fun things humans had made like theme parks and rollercoasters. Keith seemed to be interested and excited about that.

During their conversation Keith ended up moving closer to Lance until their arms were pressed up against each other. It made Lance’s heart race pick up a little. Keith was, an asshole. A complete and utter asshole that made his life more difficult than it should be… But he did have a certain charm about him and was actually quite nice when he wasn’t hungry or acting like a complete asshole.

Suddenly Keith stood up and stretched. “Well we should probably head back now. Sun will be up soon and Shiro’s gonna bite me if he wakes up and we’re gone.”

“Alright.” Lance stood up and the two of them walked back towards the door.

“... Hey Lance?”

“Yeah?”

Keith looked away and blushed a little. “I um… It was nice talking to you about all that kind of stuff. It was good to talk to someone about that stuff other than Shiro”

“Oh, no problem man. Any time.” Lance meant it too.

_Thank you Lance._

Hearing that made Lance pause for a moment, but he let it slide. That was definitely Keith’s voice in his head again. He didn’t know how to feel about this but he wasn’t picking up anything negative from Keith and he didn’t want to ruin the moment. He just smiled at him and went back to where everyone else was still sleeping in the lounge room.


	35. Brain worms

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shiro's an asshole big brother. Keith is a ball of raging emotions. Lance is trying to do his best to get along with the demon bros. Kudos and comment when you can. Enjoy :D

Keith was confused. Since he had talked with Lance things had felt different with him. Not extremely different. Just different. He started to feel weird and kind of warm around Lance. His face would heat up and his stomach would churn. Maybe he was using a different shampoo? That was probably it.

The topic came up during Shiro and Keith’s weekly grooming sessions. And it all came up because of one comment Shiro made. “We should invite Lance to groom with us.”

Keith stopped untangling a knot around Shiro’s ear. “... Um, I think humans have their own grooming rituals. I mean, Lance washes himself every day. That’s kind of extreme, don’t you think?”

“True, but grooming is a good part of pack bonding.”

Keith felt his heart rate start to pick up. “I um… Lance isn’t part of our pack though…”

Shiro shrugged. “Well he might as well be. We can invite Pidge and Hunk to get groomed too. Consider is just a bit of demon bonding. I think they would like it. We have been doing a lot of human bonding things. They could do this with us.”

“... You just want more people to help groom your stupid mane.”

Shiro chuckled. “Well that might be true, but you got all defensive about Lance joining us for a bit of grooming.” 

“I-I don’t want him to…”

“Why not?”

“... It’s an us thing. Not a human thing… Lance wouldn’t understand it and would probably make fun of it for no reason.” Grumbled Keith.

Shiro rolled his eyes and lightly thumped Keith with his paw. “Oh hush you. Why is your face going all red anyway?”

Keith flailed and pushed the paw away. “Nothing. I think Lance is making me sick.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah. Whenever he’s around me he just…” Keith groaned in annoyance. It was hard to put things into words. “He just… He makes me feel weird. He makes my heart beat really fast like I’ve just run away from a sand worm, and my face gets all hot like I’ve gone and fallen asleep in the sun. When he gets too close to me my stomach feels all weird. Like I’m going to be sick, but I never am.”

Shiro nodded along as he talked. He had a neutral expression the whole time and when he stopped talking he just shrugged. “Sounds like a human virus. It was actually pretty common when I used to come to Earth to talk to Adam. Pretty much only affects people that are physiologically adults.”

Keith made a small distressed noise and hid under Shiro’s paw. “I don’t wanna get sick. I thought demons were immune to human illnesses!”

“You’re thinking blood diseases.” Reminded Shiro. “You can’t get blood diseases from humans. Not all viruses are blood born so it could very well have infected you.”

“Shit…”

“Could be a brain parasite.” Suggested Shiro. “You could have a some kind of big worm eating away at your brain. It could have its little feelers all wrapped around your spine and is taking over your body as we speak.”

Keith whined and whimpered. He didn’t want a damn brain parasite. He never ate rotting food anyway so there was no way he’d get one of those. Shiro was probably just trying to scare him. Maybe. Either way Keith didn’t want to have brain parasites.

“If I have parasites go and get me something to kill them!” He whined.

Shiro shrugged. “Sorry Keith. You have those parasites for life. They might go away on their own, but you know. They never really do that.”

Keith grumbled. “Fucking human parasites… I hate this.”

Shiro chuckled and lightly pressed his paw against Keith’s head. “I’m just messing with you. You’re not sick.”

“I’m not?”

“Yeah. You just have the beginnings of a crush on Lance.”

Keith stared up at Shiro with wide eyed confusion. “That’s not funny.”

“I know. I’m being serious.”

“Like how you were serious about the brain worms?” He grumbled.

“... Okay, I reserve my right as your littermate to make fun of you for crushing on Lance.”

“I’m not crushing on Lance!”

“It’s not that big of a deal.” Said Shiro. “You’re a young adult. Just out of your kit phase. You’re starting to want to look for a mate to have kits with… or in your case probably adoption. Though I am pretty sure there are spells to make at least one of you temporarily female if you want to have your own kits and- OW!”

Keith sunk his teeth deep into Shiro’s paw and wrapped his arms and legs around his arm in a death grip. If he couldn’t get Shiro to shut his mouth with his words he would have to distract him with his teeth.

The manticore rolled onto his back and waved his arm around in an attempt to shake him off. “Let go! Let go or I’ll step on you!” Keith growled and bit harder. Which in turn made Shiro slam Keith against the ground. Thankfully he decided to slam his littermate against a pile of pillows repeatedly. 

While Keith was getting the shit beaten out of him in the softest possible way Lance happened to enter the room. “... What did I just walk in on?”

Hearing Lance’s voice Keith squeaked in surprise and he loosened his grip on Shiro’s arm. It was just enough for Shiro to fling the smaller demon off his arm and across the room, into a pile of blankets. “N-Nothing!” Snapped Keith as he tried to pull himself out of the blanket pile while blushing. “You didn’t see shit!”

“... Right.” Lance looked over at Shiro. “Why was he biting you?”

“Demon thing.” Said Shiro. “You walked in on a bit of a bonding moment.”

“Oh, okay.” He kind of stood awkwardly in the doorway as he looked around the room. “So, I was thinking, since I don’t have anything to do today and everyone else is out at school and stuff, do you guys want to go out and do something?”

“No!” Snapped Keith. “Go away!”

Lance took immediate offence to his attitude. “It was just a question. No need to be rude. If you two just want to do your own demon things you can just say it. I’ll go and do my own thing.”

Shiro growled at Keith. “Just ignore him. He’s mad I flung him across the room again.” He sat up and lightly flexed his bitten paw a few times. “What did you have in mind?”

Lance shrugged. “Just forget it. It was a stupid idea anyway.”

He left the room and Shiro glared at Keith. “Look at what you did. Why did you do that?”

“I panicked!” Snapped Keith. “You threw me across the room!”

“You told him to go away when he wanted to go out somewhere with us.” Shiro got up and walked towards the door. “I’m going to go and see what Lance wanted. You stay here and remember how you’re meant to act around humans.”

“...” Keith would have argued but he felt like an asshole. Hell he knew he was the asshole. He ran his fingers through his hair and sighed. Shiro didn’t even groom him.

***

Lance’s previous happy mood was now officially over. Ever since he had talked with Keith about going somewhere for a vacation or something, he had been thinking of places to take the demons. Then he remembered how Keith’s eyes lit up when he talked about theme parks. He thought Keith would appreciate it, but no. He wouldn’t even let him talk. Just wanted him to go away. The other night was probably a fluke. Keith was just an asshole.

He sighed and flopped onto the couch as he looked through his phone. He was on the website for the theme park and was gonna prepay for some tickets when they confirmed that they wanted to go. It sucked.

“Lance?”

He looked over and saw Shiro walking into the room. “Hi.”

“Hi… What did you want to do?”

Lance shrugged. “Forget it. Dumb idea. You guys probably would think it’s dumb and you’ll just want to head home.”

“Can’t hate it if we don’t try it.” Said Shiro. “... You know, even if Keith doesn’t want to do something we could do something? I know I’m not as fun or as hip with the kids. With the yeets and the ok Boomers and the dabbing, but I can try?”

“... Wow. Did Pidge introduce you to memes?”

“... Maybe? Am I in trouble?”

“No, you’re fine. I just felt my soul slowly dying when I heard you say yeet.”

“Oh…” Shiro sat next to him and nervously pawed at the carpet. “So um… Anyway, where did you want to go?”

Lance sighed and sank further into the couch. “I told Keith about human things and one of the human things I talked about was theme parks.”

“What’s a theme park?”

“It’s a place where people can play games, go on rides, and eat really fatty and sugary foods.” Said Lance. “I thought Keith would like going but I guess he is kind of pissed off today…”

“... I’d like to go if you still want to.” Said Shiro quietly. “But if you’d still like to go with Keith I can just…”

Lance shook his head. “No it’s fine. We can go. I’m happy to go with you. Just go and be human and put on some comfortable clothes… If Keith’s calmed down he can come too.” Shiro smiled and happily walked off to go and put on some human clothes. Hopefully he wouldn’t take the piss out of him again and wear a fucking suit.

About twenty minutes later Lance, Shiro, and Keith were on a bus and heading to the theme park. Keith had found a red hoodie and had resolved to hide inside it with the hood up for the entire trip. He seemed to be embarrassed about yelling at Lance for no reason, or maybe Shiro had shamed him into feeling guilty? Either option was possible. 

At least Shiro seemed happy. He actually seemed to quite enjoy riding the bus. Something Lance would have mocked in jest if Shiro didn’t seem so genuine about his excitement. It was adorable really. Keith still seemed to hate the bus if how tense he was sitting meant anything. Now that Lance thought about it he should invest in a car. Not like he couldn’t afford it now.

When they got to the theme park Lance just needed to get his QR code scanned and they each got their shiny orange wristbands. Keith immediately started to pick at his. Lance lightly slapped his hand.

“Don’t do that.” He said. “If you take that off you can’t get on any rides and you’ll be pissed off. You need to hold the black and white stripes under the scanner and you’ll get to go on any ride you line up for.”

“Huh, neat.” Said Shiro as he looked down at his own wristband.

Lance smiled and took out the map they gave him at the ticket booth. “Okay, so we can pretty much go anywhere and do anything. You guys wanna look at the rides first? Maybe some of the games? We can get some awful food if you like?”

“Why would we eat any of the food here if it’s awful?” Asked Keith in confusion.

“I mean awful for your health.” Said Lance. “They serve deep fried butter on a stick here.” Both demons seemed confused by the idea of butter. “It’s that yellow stuff we spread on bread. But like, deep fried… Um… Remember that time we got you guys to try deep fried chicken? Kind of like that but with a stick of butter.”

“That sounds ridiculously disgusting.” Said Keith. “And this is coming from a demon that can and does regularly eat all kinds of raw human and animal parts.”

“To be fair we will eat pretty much anything if it’s made out of meat.” Reminded Shiro.

“Well butter is made from milk and milk comes from cows soooo… Think about that.”

“If there wasn’t blood pumping through it it’s not meat.” Said Keith.

“What are you a meat purist?”

“Carnivore.”

“Pfft, details, details.” Said Lance as he waved them off. “Anyway, I say we start walking around until we see something you guys are interested in. Sound good to you?” The two demons nodded in agreement and they started to look around. 

***

Despite how the day started Keith was actually kind of excited. And yeah he did feel bad about yelling at Lance. Yes he overreacted, but he was trying to come to terms with the fact he didn’t have some weird human disease or brain worms, Shiro was still an asshole for making him think that, but might actually kind of like Lance? The jury was still out on that. Keith wasn’t convinced he didn’t have brain worms. 

Lance looked excited to show them around. Which did make Keith smile a little. This place seemed to bring a lot of joy to a lot of people. Though with this many different people around he could smell the various sins that permeated the air and it was kind of making him a little hungry. But he could manage his hunger for now. The air smelt mostly of gluttony with some envy and wrath thrown in for good measure.

“Oh there’s the roller coaster I told you about!” Lance pointed to one of the strangest structures he had seen in a while. Lots of loops. Huge ups and plummeting downs. Lance said it felt like free falling and he wanted to experience that again and he knew Shiro would too.

“I want to go on that one.” Said Keith. He tugged on Shiro’s arm. “Come on this thing with me. Lance told me it’s one of the closest things to flying a human can get.”

“Really?” He asked.

Lance nodded. “Yeah. It’s probably not that intense for you guys, but it’s more than enough for us.”

“You gonna come on with us?” Asked Shiro.

Lance shook his head. “No way man. I like roller coasters and everything, but even I feel like I’m gonna puke just looking at it… Just listen to instructions and don’t do something stupid. Please.”

“Don’t worry.” Said Shiro. “I’ve got this sorted.”

The line was surprisingly short and soon the two of them were on the roller coaster. While it lacked the thrill that Keith remembered when he went flying, but he had to admit that the stomach dropping part during the free fall parts was very accurate to free falling during flying.

When they got off the ride they were both smiling. Which made Lance smile. Which made Keith’s heart do weird things he didn’t like. So he scowled. Lance didn’t seem to mind his sour attitude much since he had something large, fluffy and blue on a stick.

“Did you guys have fun?” He asked.

“Yeah.” Said Shiro.”It was probably the closest thing I’ll ever get to flying again. What are you eating?”

“Cotton candy. Wanna try some? It’s pure sugar dyed blue.” He held it out to them. 

Keith was a little wary of trying human food, but it seemed okay to him and didn’t smell too weird. He took a small piece and ate it. Instantly he was shocked when it dissolved on his tongue. “Oh!”

Lance grinned. “You demon boys like? There’s more of that where it came from. Let’s go.”

To say Keith was having fun was a bit of an understatement. Granted the whole place was a little over stimulating and he was on a bit of a sugar high after Lance continued to feed both Keith and Shiro different sugar saturated foods to see their reactions. This only served to make the demons talk faster and immediately want to go from one thrill inducing ride to the next. Keith wasn’t ashamed to say that he was acting more like a kit than an adult.

Lance seemed to realise his mistake after the third time Keith lined up for a ride that just spun you around at high speeds and Shiro was actively encouraging him. When he tried to line up again, Lance quickly pulled him away when he tried to get in line a fourth time.

“Okay demon kid. Time to bring it back a bit. Let’s put your energy into other things. Like some of the shitty games.” 

“Yeah sure. Where did Shiro go?”

“He’s right over… there…” Lance pointed next to himself, but Shiro was gone. “Oh fuck…” Lance quickly looked around. “Okay, how the hell did I lose a manticore?”

Keith shrugged. “He is pretty good at hiding. That’s kind of his thing.”

“Yeah, but how the hell did we lose him?”

“Did he see something shiny?” Asked Keith. “Perhaps a large and slow human that he can chew on?”

His attempt at a joke didn’t seem to ease Lance’s tension at all. “Shit we need to find him… Okay, new order for you demon boy; find Shiro.”

“... Okay.”

***

It wasn’t Shiro’s fault that he was easily distracted. He was just looking around the crowd of people walking by when he happened to spot Adam. He knew it was Adam. he was there just walking by with someone else. He didn’t even look at him, but Shiro knew it was him. Instantly he felt a draw to him, though it might have just been the peak of his sugar rush right before the crash.

He was just going to take a quick look just to make sure it was him and then quickly head back to Lance and Keith. It would be fine, right? Totally fine and not creepy at all. It’s not like Shiro was suddenly stalking Adam again with this person… This person who had his hand on Adam’s shoulder… This person that was leaning in close to whisper something into Adam’s ear… Was this Adam’s boyfriend?

Of course Adam had a boyfriend. Sure this version of Adam didn’t know him so he had his own life with all the things he deserved. Damn it, he knew that this wasn’t Adam. He should just head back to Lance and Keith before they got worried. He could just say he headed off to the bathroom. So he did the only logical thing and stalked Adam and his boyfriend for another twenty minutes.

He watched them talking. Adam looked annoyed. Their boyfriend didn’t seem to notice or care. But how could they not notice? Adam was doing the thing he does when he’s annoyed. The corner of his mouth was twitching down and his eyebrows were furrowed slightly and… And Shiro really, really needed a new hobby. Preferably one that wasn’t going to beat him over the head with guilt.

He was going to watch them for a few more minutes and then he would leave. They had just gotten food and drinks from some food vendor. They were talking and Adam looked more and more annoyed. Which Shiro found kind of odd. Adam never really got this angry unless he was about to-

Adam emptied his drink on the other man’s head while giving him a cold glare. He said something to the other man and went to leave. The man grabbed Adam’s arm and yelled something at him. That was enough for Shiro to quickly intervene. He grabbed the man’s wrist with his robotic arm and squeezed.

“Ow! What the fuck?” Growled the man.

Shiro just smiled at him. “If I were you I would let him go right now. I’m having issues with my arm right now and I could break your wrist if you don’t let go right now.”

“Stay the fuck out of this!” Snapped the man.

“He’s a friend of mine dipshit!” Snapped Adam. “Hey man. Didn’t think I’d see you here. How’s the marines?”

“It’s okay.” Shiro had no idea what Adam just said, but he was playing along. The man hesitated but quickly slunk off into the crowd muttering something that was probably meant as an insult. 

When the man was gone Adam let out a relieved sigh. “Thanks. You really saved my ass. I swear this is the last time I let my roommate convince me that going on a Tinder date is a good idea… Anyway, I’m Adam.”

Shiro nodded along. “I-I’m Takashi Shirogane. E-everyone just calls me Shiro.”

Adam nodded. “Well it’s nice to meet you. Sorry about saying you’re in the marines, or part of it. It seemed like the better option than my other idea… Which was saying you were out of jail… Yeah…”

Shiro just nodded. “That’s okay… So that was a Tinder date?”

He nodded and pushed his glasses back up his nose. “Yeah… Somehow I always end up getting paired with assholes that are low key racist. Fucker had the nerve to call me exotic. Like my family hasn’t been living in this fucking country for at least a hundred and fifty years. Christ I hate people using me like that, but Tinder is full of people like that… I am going to strangle Curtis when I next see him.”

“Curtis?”

“My roommate.”

“Ah.”

“Yeah… Thanks for letting me vent.”

“Yeah, it’s no problem. Hope your next date goes better?”

Adam nodded a little. “Me too… So um… You often come to these places alone?”

Shiro shrugged. “First time. I came here with my younger brother and our friend. My brother and I haven’t really been to these places before so our friend decided to take us.”

“And where are they now?”

“...” How was Shiro going to explain that he had been stalking Adam on his terrible Tinder date for almost an hour? “Umm… I think they-”

“Shiro!”

He quickly turned and was almost taken out by Keith who had practically launched himself at him. Shiro easily caught him, but he did stumble back a little. Lance was quickly following behind Keith. He doubled over and wheezed. “O-okay… Firstly, no more sugar for you Keith. Bad idea. Secondly… I said find Shiro not tackle him!”

“Be more specific!” Snapped Keith.

Lance rolled his eyes and then he noticed Adam. “Professor? What are you doing here?”

“Oh the usual. Failing at my love life. Plotting to murder roommate.” He said. “... Didn’t you drop out?”

Lance nodded. “Yeah. I have some stress issues that were starting to mess with me and I couldn’t do it,”

“Fair enough. Well it was nice seeing you again” He looked back at Shiro. “And it was nice meeting you too.”

“Y-yeah. It was nice meeting you too.” Said Shiro.

Adam went to leave when suddenly Lance quickly piped up. “Hey, how about you two go and do something?” He suggested. “Keith still wants to go on like, the same roller coaster again.”

Keith pouted. “I fail to see the downside...”

“Sooo, how about you more adultier adults go and do more adult stuff? We can meet back at the front in like, two hours?” Suggested Lance. “There should be a bus to take us straight back home after.”

“I have a car.” Said Adam. “I mean… If you like I could drive you back home?”

“That would be perfect.” Said Lance. He quickly hooked his arm with Keith and dragged him away. “Okay, later you two. Have fun!” They quickly vanished into the crowd leaving Shiro and Adam feeling kind of awkward.

“So…” Said Adam. “Ferris wheel?”

***

Keith was confused as fuck. One second he was told to find Shiro, then he was getting scolded for finding him, and now they were leaving him with some stranger? This didn’t make sense. He pulled his arm away from Lance and glared at him. 

“What the hell was that?”

“What was what?”

“Shiro and that guy you called Professor.” Said Keith. “Why would you just leave Shiro with that guy? What the hell?”

Lance gave him a confused look. “Dude. you didn’t feel it?”

“Feel what?”

“There was just this… Fuck it’s hard to explain…” Lance frowned as he stared down at the ground and wondered how to word everything. “It’s like… It was warm and comforting. The feeling only got stronger when they looked at each other and not that I am saying this out loud I realise how crazy this sounds. What the fuck is wrong with me?”

Now Keith was confused, but probably not as confused as Lance was. “Empath powers?”

“... Fuck it’s empath powers.”

“So you can tell when someone what? Likes someone else?”

“I guess?”

“...” Keith went red. “Okay, stop that. Stop that right now. Bad warlock.” He flicked Lance’s forehead. “Stop it.”

Lance pouted and rubbed his forehead. “Cram it mullet. We both know my powers are as consistent as um… something inconsistent.”

“Oh, right…” Keith looked away and started walking towards some ride that dropped you from a great height. “... I want to go on this one.” He was still convinced he had brain worms.


	36. The ABC's of Hell

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lance tries to teach Keith English, Keith is still convinced he has brain worms, and Pidge is the asshole we all love. Kudos and comment when you can. Enjoy :D

“... So you three live here?” Asked Adam as he pulled up in front of Lance’s house. Clearly he was surprised by the sheer size of it all. Lance still thought it was ridiculous, but he was slowly getting used to it. Not really. The house was too big for three humans and two demons.

“Yeah. My uncle died and passed it onto me.” Said Lance. Suddenly a giant red lion plushie hit him in the face. It was a stupid thing that Keith somehow managed to win in a game of darts that the park. He seemed to like it and would randomly smack Lance with it every now and then in the back of Adam’s car. “Would you stop that already?”

Keith grinned at him. “Make me.”

Shiro shook his head. “Keith, if you keep annoying Lance I’ll throw you off the roof again.’

Keith grumbled and quickly hit Lance with it again. Lance glared at him. “Shiro he hit me again!”

Quickly as a flash Keith escaped the car and ran into the house with the giant red lion toy. Lance rolled his eyes and quickly ran after him. Shiro just shook his head. “Kids, am I right?”

Adam chuckled a little and nodded in agreement. “Don’t get me started on kids. They are a handful… So, you live here too or are you just visiting?”

“Keith and I live here.” Said Shiro. “We um… We used to work for Lance’s uncle before he passed away, and now we work for him… So I guess you can come by whenever you like?”

“Yeah… Do you have your phone on you right now?”

“Um…” How was Shiro meant to explain he didn’t have a phone. “It’s broken at the moment. I’m in the process of getting a new one.”

“Okay. Give me a second…” Adam leaned over Shiro and opened the glovebox. He took out a piece of paper and pen. He quickly scribbled down some numbers and handed it to him. “Here. When you get your phone back, give me a call.”

“O-okay. Thanks.” Shiro looked down at the number in his hands and smiled a little. “I’ll try and get it sorted out tomorrow.”

“Okay. Hear from you in the next few days then?”

“Yeah. See you soon Adam.” Shrio left the car and watched Adam drive away. He smiled down at the number and went inside, only to find Keith running away at top speed from lance who was chasing him with a broom.

“Get back here damn it!” He yelled.

“Eat a dick Lance!” Yelled keith over his shoulder.

As they ran by Shiro quickly grabbed Lance. “Hey, can I ask you something?”

“Yeah sure. What’s up?”

“... What’s a phone?”

“...”

***

The next day, Lance bought both demons a phone. Something decent, sturdy, and good for calls and texts. Which was hopefully all they needed them for. He also got them a decent plan as well so they should be fine. Lance even put the numbers for everyone that had a phone. He also put in Adam’s number for Shiro, which he was very thankful for. Keith however wasn’t very happy.

“I can’t read this.” He growled. “Isn’t there some way to put the letters in Infernal?”

“Infernal isn’t a human language.”

“... What about Latin?”

“You can type in Latin but I don’t think anyone will be able to read it.” Said Lance.

Keith glared at him and stormed off. “This is stupid. I don’t need a phone.”

“... What’s he so mad about?”

Shiro shrugged. “He has trouble with things he doesn’t understand right away. He’s never been good at languages or specific translation spells. So it’s Latin or Infernal with him or nothing.”

Lance nodded a little. “Yeah, he did mention he couldn’t read English…” He suddenly got an idea. “I’m gonna go find Keith. You have fun texting Adam.” Shiro blushed a little and quietly sat in the corner of the room to text with Adam.

With him distracted Lance went to find Keith. Lance had found that since he’d come back from the theme park he’d been picking up on everyone’s emotions. Nothing super strong, but he could pick up on trace feelings. He could sense when Pidge was frustrated at her own little robotic project. He could feel the happiness rolling of Hunk when he was cooking or talking about Shay. He felt when Shiro felt all happy and flustered when the topic of Adam came up, though there were hints of guilt. Keith on the other hand his emotions were surprisingly all over the place at random times. One second he’d be came and then boom. Nothing but frustrations and anxiety.

He made a quick stop in his room to grab some of his college materials and easily found Keith in the library. He could kind of sense his frustrations as the demon picked up a book, squinted at some of the words, and then threw it to the ground. He did the same to three more books before he gave up and angrily sat in one of the chairs.

“... You okay there Keith?”

Keith glared at him. “I’m not stupid.”

“I never said you were.”

“Fuck off.” He growled. “I know you’re going to make fun of me. I’m the only one in the whole fucking house that can’t read your stupid human languge. Even Shiro can read English. I can’t read it, and you just love poking fun us for not knowing humans shit.”

Lance sighed and pushed the other chair over to Keith and sat down next to him. “Okay, I get your mad and all, but honestly? I’m never going to make fun of you for not knowing how to read English. It’s one of the hardest languages out there to learn. It borrows and steals things from other languages, but I’m happy to help you.”

Keith rolled his eyes. “Yeah, right.”

Now it was Lance’s turn to roll his eyes. “I was studying to be a teacher. Teaching little kids the basics on how to read and write. If I can’t teach you how to at least learn you ABC’s I’m pretty sure it’ll just confirm I wasted my time.” He opened a very colourful book and showed it to Keith. “Okay, let’s start with the letter A. A is for ants, apples, and avocado. What other things can you think of that starts with the letter a?”

Keith glared at the book and then glared at Lance. “Acid, avicorate, and asphyxiate. How many letters are there in the human alphabet? Are you going to do this for every letter?”

“Well I don’t think we’ll get through the whole thing, but at least the first five… By the way there are twenty six letters.”

“And like that I am out.”

Lance sighed and closed the book. “Look, you don’t have to learn how to read English. I just thought it could be handy to have a basic understanding. If you went out and got lost and saw a street sign you could call me and tell me where you are.”

“... Fine.” Keith slumbed back into his seat and glared at the book in Lance’s hands. “What’s the next letter? The one that looks like sideways boobs.”

Lance chuckled and pointed to the letter B. “That’s the letter B. B is for bees, banana, and boots. Can you come up with anything else that start with b?”

“Baphomet, basilisk, beelzebub.” 

“... Alright. Next is C. It is for cats, cactus, and crickets.”

“Chitine, curse, crush.”

“What the hell is a chi- you know what? No. Don’t tell me what that is. Don’t want to know.” The next twenty minutes went like this. Lance actually felt like they were actually making some progress. He even managed to get Keith to write out the first five letters pretty well. It made Lance beam with pride. His teaching hadn’t gone to waste. He could do this.

When Keith wrote down the letter E a few times he put down the pen and looked over at Lance. “So… Did I do okay?”

Lance nodded.”Yeah. You did really well. Want to take a break for now? You’re gonna be spelling and reading English in no time. You’re a really good at writing already.”

“Really?”

“Yeah.” Lance was all about that positive reinforcement. “Well, I’m gonna go and grab something to eat and see what other books I have. Come to my room when you’re ready and we can do some more stuff.”

Keith nodded and just looked very surprised. Like he didn’t expect Lance to praise him for being able to write letters down. “O-okay.”

***

When Lance was gone Keith picked up the piece of paper he had been writing on. A, B, C, D and E were scribbled across it. As he stared at it, he couldn’t help but feel his heart start racing. Lance’s teaching methods seemed a little condescending, but they seemed to be working and it meant he could spend time with Lance… And Lance was making him feel weird...

Keith blushed and before he knew it he had shoved the paper into his mouth and he was eating it. One of his go to methods of getting rid of things that frustrated him. He immediately regretted this decision because paper and ink tastes bad.

“... What the fuck are you doing demon boy?” Asked Pidge as she walked into the library.

“... Feeding my brain worms.”

“You have brain worms? Is this a demon thing?” She asked as she looked around the bookshelves.

“Yeah. Brain parasite issue.” Muttered Keith as he swallowed the paper. “I’m gonna have to seriously think about getting some mandrake root and nettles. That usually does it.”

“Right… You actually have brain worms?”

“Yeah. I think so… Shiro said I did but then he said I didn’t?”

“What are the symptoms?” She asked.

Keith sighed and walked over to her. “My stomach does flips but I never vomit. I get all warm and nervous. My heart beats faster and I just… I feel weird when I’m around Lance.”

Pidge looked confused and gave him a strange look. “Lance? Just around Lance?”

“Yeah?”

“... Yeah, sounds like brain worms to me.” She said flatly. “You developed sweaty palms yet?”

“... Maybe?”

“Ah, stage three brain worms.” Said Pidge in an all knowing manner. “And it’s just when you’re around Lance, right?”

“Y-yeah?”

“Sounds like you have a bit of gigantis-homo-moronicus too.”

“Is that deadly?”

“When combined with brain worms? Not that deadly, but should be taken care of very soon.” Said Pidge. “Gigantis-homo-moronicus usually happens when you see someone of the same sex, in this case Lance, and your heart starts racing very fast. Can only be cured when you talk to the person who caused it in the first place.”

Keith nodded and nervously clicked his nails together. “Right…” He really didn’t like the idea about any of this. He was going to have to investigate the basement to see if he could find some mandrake roots and nettles. “I’ll um… I’ll see you later Pidge.”

He quickly headed down to the basement and started looking through the collection of jars and bottles He eventually found some mandrake roots and some stinging nettles. He took a big bite of the root and quickly popped several nettles into his mouth and chewed. The bitter juice from both the plants killed his mouth and kind of just tasted like rotten vegetation and varnish to him. It was gross, but it would kill any brain worms he had.

***

When Lance got to the kitchen he found Hunk making grilled cheese. “Hey Lance. What are you all smiling about?”

“I’m teaching Keith how to read and write in English. He’s doing really well.”

“Ah, putting your teaching knowledge to work, right?”

“Yep. Can I have a grilled cheese too?”

“No problem buddy.” Hunk started making another one. “So, how are things in general? You were kind of trying to beat Keith with with some giant red lion thing the other day…”

“Yeah. Well get this; so I took Keith and Shiro to a theme park the other day and Shiro found Adam. Like, the professor at our college. That guy.”

Hunk nodded. “Yeah? What of it?”

“... Oh right! I don’t think I told you about this.” Lance sat up on the counter top and grinned. “Okay, so you know the skull Shiro carries with him? That’s Adam’s skull, but like, Adam from the past. Apparently our professor looks just like the old Adam. Which yeah, has been making Shiro question things and he has felt guilty, but he’s giving it a go, so he’s kind of moving on, right? That’s a good thing.”

“... So what you’re saying is that reincarnation is real?”

“I have no clue. But Shiro just looked so happy.” Siad Lance. “He was giving Adam puppy eyes the whole time. He’s totally head over heels for him. It’s adorable.”

Hunk nodded and frowned a little. “Are you sure this is a good thing to encourage though?”

“Huh?”

“Look, I don’t know if this is a good idea… I mean, Shiro is a manticore and Adam’s human. There’s kind of a big age gap thing there. Like, Shiros several hundreds of years old and he’s still pretty young looking. He’s probably going to look like that when Adam is like seventy. Also, isn’t there kind of the moral and ethical argument that Shiro’s not moving on from Adam at all? Also, isn’t it kind of scummy? Like, Shiro is kind of using Adam?”

“... Ah… Didn’t think about that.” Honestly Lance just kind of thought it was a totally romantic thing being able to find your soulmate after centuries of pinning and guilt but yeah… Hunk was kind of right. Adam obviously didn’t know Shiro. He didn’t have any memory of Shiro. Which was bad. Hunk had a valid reason to be concerned. “Um… Maybe Shiro just needs to be reminded that this isn’t his Adam?”

“Yeah, maybe.” Hunk passed Lance a grilled cheese. “Anyway, you’re bonding with them and stuff right?”

“I think so.” Said Lance. “Shiro likes me and Keith is… Keith. He’s an interesting demon.”

Hunk gave him a slightly confused look. “An interesting demon?”

“Yeah.”

“Interesting like now Nyma was an interesting woman?” Asked Hunk. “Or Interesting how you thought Rolo was an interesting guy?”

“...” Lance blushed a little. He knew where Hunk was going with this. “What? No. You stop that now! Keith is a demon and I find demon’s interesting. Don’t you? Like um… Don’t you think they are interesting? I mean, Shiro can turn into some freaky lion, scorpion thing. Keith eats sin. It’s interesting.”

Hunk nodded. “Yep. Just like how Nyma always brushed her hair with a mini mouse comb and Rolo only likes white jelly beans.”

Lance blushed. “Shut up man…”

Hunk sighed heavily. “Seriously? You’re falling for Keith? He’s going to outlive all of us combined. Look, I’m not saying it’s a bad idea, just think about it.”

“I don’t like Keith like that so don’t worry about it.” Said Lance. “He’s just an interesting kind of demon. I mean, he’s a sin-eater, so a type of demon I didn’t know was a thing, He can shapeshift into being a six year old, he can wall crawl, he’s an adrenaline junkie when he gets a bit of a sugar high… And he’s kind of cute when he smiles and he looked adorable when he was learning his ABC, and fuck I hat you so much right now Hunk.”

Hunk just chuckled. “Had a bit of an epiphany?”

“Maybe…” 

Okay, Lance might have had a tiny crush on the demon boy, but honestly who wouldn’t? He was this cold, dark, mysterious type. Also a total bad boy. Bad boys were hot. But Lance just had an aesthetic appreciation for Keith’s demon hotness. That was all. Totally. Had to be. That’s all it was.

“Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck.”

Hunk chuckled a little and shook his head. “Look. Just think about this man. Do you really want to pursue someone that will practically live forever? Realistically you’ll be dead when you’re around eighty or ninety.”

“I know… But Krolia’s still around.”

“Isn’t see part of some coven where they have long life because of some demon’s blood? They are beast blooded?”

“... Well, yeah.” Yep. Having a long life was probably not in Lance’s future. Also, he kind of hated the idea of outliving his partner. It was just a stupid crush anyway. He wouldn’t like Keith past that anyway. Besides, Keith seemed to just tolerate him at best and only went along with what he wanted because it was a weird human thing and he was curious about it.

Lance took a jumbo pack of cheese puffs out of the cupboard and walked to his room. Hopefully he could try and use some rewards for Keith and see if that helped with his reading and writing. If not than Lance could have some snacks.

When he got to his room Keith was already there. He was sitting in the bed and he was chewing something. Something that was dripping green juice down his chin. It looked kind of gross. “Um… You okay there?”

Keith nodded and mumbled through a mouthful of stuff. “Not feeling too well. Demon remedy.”

“Oh, you feeling sick? Headache? Dizzy?”

He shrugged. “Just demon stuff. What letter are we up to now?”

“F.” Said Lance. “F is for things like friends, family, and fun.”

“... Fire, fierce, and fuck.”

Lance chuckled. “Yep. Though did you really have to say fuck?”

Keith shrugged. “One of the first F words I could think of. What does it matter? Still an F word.”

“True… Also, you got some juice stuff running down your chin.”

Keith frowned and started to wipe his chin. “It’s fine… bit of mandrake and nettle juice never hurt anyone.”

Lance just nodded and moved onto the next letter. “Okay, next up with have the letter G.”


	37. Nests

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Things are progressing. Stuff is happening. No darkness is happening yet. Blame it on it being the end of the year and everyone needing a bit of light hearted fun before it gets inevitably destroyed in the new year. Mwahahaha. Kudos and comment when you can. Enjoy :D

After his conversation with Hunk, Lance became hyper aware of how close he and Keith would sometimes get. A gentle brush of their fingers when Lance picked up the paper Keith was writing on. When they would bump shoulder to shoulder. The small glances at each other they would share every once in a while. The fact that Lance felt flustered when around Keith. It got to the point where Lance had to do something about it.

Lance found Shiro in the greenhouse in a sunny spot with his phone next to him. He looked like he was waiting for Adam to text him back or he had found the internet app and was currently surfing the web. “Hey Shiro.”

“Hey Lance. What’s up?”

“I need to talk to you.” 

“Sounds serious.”

“Yeah…” Lance nervously kicked at the ground and sighed. “Look, I don’t want to insult you and Keith or anything, but I think I’m going to go back to sleeping in my room.”

Shiro seemed a little confused. “Oh?”

“Yeah. I need a mattress. My back is starting to hurt.”

“Ah, okay.” Shiro yawned and stretched like a cat before sitting up. “Humans seem to need a large soft bedding to sleep on huh?”

“Yeah.”

“Did you tell Keith?”

“Um… no.”

“Why not?”

Lance shrugged. “My empath powers are acting all weird. I’m kind of picking up other people’s emotions in subtle ways and Keith… His emotions are all over the place and kind of unpredictable when he’s not happy and I…”

“Let me guess.” Said Shiro. “You’re worried he’s going to get angry at you? Or are you worried that he’s going to be happy you’re not in our nest anymore?”

“... Maybe.” In all honesty Lance didn’t know which would be worse. On one hand he really didn’t want to offend Keith and make him angry because of some weird demon reason he didn’t understand. On the other he knew he would be emotionally crushed his Keith was happy that he was going back to his room. It would be the end of his crush and that would suck. He’d only just realised it.

Shiro gave him a sympathetic look. “If Keith or someone from the Marmora coven thinks you’re okay then go ahead.”

“Okay… How are things going with Adam?”

“We’ve talked a little.” He pushed his phone towards Lance with his paw. “I think it’s going pretty well.” Lance nodded as he looked through the texts between Shiro and Adam.

**Shiro**  
_Hi. This is Shiro from the theme park the other day._  
_Did you get home okay?_

**Adam**  
_Ah yes. Shiro the hero. How could I forget?_  
_Yeah, I got home okay._  
_I yelled at Curtis for about an hour for encouraging me to go out with the racist fuck_

**Shiro**  
_Sorry it didn’t work out for you._

**Adam**  
_It’s fine._  
_Made Curtis buy me dinner._  
_Butter chicken and garlic naan bread_

**Shiro**  
_Sounds nice._

**Adam**  
_It was._  
_Did your brother survive Lance?_

**Shiro**  
_Surprisingly yes._

**Adam**  
_Resilient._

**Shiro**  
_That’s Keith for you._  
_I’m not interrupting your day or anything am I?_

**Adam**  
_No it’s a welcome distraction._  
_I’m just looking over some syllabus stuff and double checking some assignment stuff._  
_What are you doing?_

**Shiro**  
_Cleaning bedrooms._  
_Keith kicked all the sheets off his bed_

**Adam**  
_You clean your brother’s room?_

**Shiro**  
_I clean the house and Keith is pretty much the grounds keeper._  
_We have a system. It works._

**Adam**  
_Does he at least help you?_

**Shrio**  
_We help each other when we need to._

**Adam**  
_Well that’s good._  
_So you know where I work right? Since Lance went to the same place?_

**Shiro**  
_Yeah?_

**Adam**  
_Are you interested in maybe getting lunch together or maybe going out to dinner at some time this week?_

**Shiro**  
_Really?_

**Adam**  
_Yeah. Unless you don’t want to?_

**Shiro**  
_No, I’d love to._  
_I’d really love to._  
_Just didn’t expect you to want to go out with me._

**Adam**  
_Why wouldn’t I want to go out with you?_

**Shiro**  
_Because I kind of randomly just swooped in on your bad date?_

**Adam**  
_Consider it thanks for saving my ass._

**Shiro**  
_Okay_  
_Anywhere you want to go?_

**Adam**  
_Allergic to anything?_

**Shiro**  
_As long as it isn’t rotting I’m game to have a go at it._

**Adam**  
_Nice. You good for lunch or dinner?_

**Shiro**  
_What works best for you?_

**Adam**  
_Honestly? Dinner_  
_But I can work with lunch_

**Shiro**  
_Dinner is good._  
_I can work with that._  
_Any day works for me. You?_

**Adam**  
_I’ll check which days work best for me._  
_I have to get back to work now._

**Shiro**  
_Okay. Talk to you soon._

**Adam**  
_:)_

“That’s all good right?” Asked Shiro. “Adam likes me?”

“Well he likes you enough to maybe ask you on a date?” He put the phone back down next to Shiro. “But what about Adam? Like his skull and everything?”

“...” Shiro sighed and lied down. “I don’t know how I feel… I love Adam. I’ve been in love with him for so long and I’ve been grieving and mourning him for almost as long as I have been alive… This person looks like Adam and kind of acts like him and I just… I need to know if this is Adam reborn or just a series of coincidences. He can never really replace the original, but I want to try and love again.”

Lance nodded and awkwardly reached out to pat his head. Shiro purred slightly at the gesture. “I get it… I’m sorry about everything you’ve been through.”

“It’s okay. It doesn’t hurt the same way it used to.” There was a feeling of resignation and acceptance coming from Shiro. It wasn’t sad per say, but it had a kind of felt like something only someone with a lot of life experiences could have. “Anyway, when I get a bit more of an idea of when Adam wants to go out to dinner could you help me get the right bus?”

“Yeah sure. I’ll give you some money too. Gotta make sure you guys have a fancy dinner and all that.”

Shiro smiled a little when he said that. “Thank you.”

***

Keith was crouched on the edge of the bathtub as he glared at the taps. They were magic. People magic. He didn’t understand how water could suddenly be in here and flowing like a waterfall and not as a pond or a lake. He didn’t like it. That wasn’t even the weirdest part. Sometimes the water was hot. Which was dumb.

He reached out and turned on the tap and flinched a little when water gushed out. Keith quickly turned it off and growled at it. This was some weird human bathroom magic. He didn’t like it. He turned it on again and watched the water run down the drain. It gurgled loudly. Keith didn’t like how it sounded. Sounded like something was living in the drain.

Keith splashed the water a few times and turned on the other tap. He didn’t like it. That made the water go hot. He hissed at the water and turned off the taps. Bathrooms were weird and he didn’t like it. He pushed some of the products around the side into the bath just to show his displeasure.

“The fuck are you doing demon boy?” Asked Pidge. She was leaning against the doorframe with her phone in her hand. “If you’re taking a bath you need to close the door and take off your pants. Idiot.”

“I’m not taking a bath. I do that when I swim in the pond.”

“Gross. You ever use shampoo before?”

“Sham what?”

“... Fuck me jogging, you serious? Wait here.” She walked off and came back with a pair of shorts and threw them at Keith. “I’m gonna close this door and when I open it back back up yon better just be wearing those shorts.” She slammed the door shut and Keith was very confused but did as he was told.

The material of these shorts was weird. Felt kind of like plastic. It was weird. When Pidge opened the door again she filled up the bath and made Keith sit in it. When he asked why he needed to do this when Lance told him he needed to get naked to be in the bath she just rolled her eyes.

“Dude, I do not want to see your demon dick. Probably has weird hooks all over it and backwards barbs.”

Keith quickly turned around and checked himself before turning back to her. “I do not have hooks or barbs!”

“Whatever. Just sit in the water.”

Keith huffed but did as she told him. He looked pissed and wasn’t too sure why he was following her orders. She just had this kind of chaotic energy that he wasn’t sure he wanted to mess with just yet. Pidge quickly looked under the sink and came back with a little plastic bucket and poured bathwater over Keith’s head.

“What are you doing?!”

She rolled her eyes. “You’re like a weird big puppy… And I swear if you hair is actually blond and is only black because of how much dirt you have in there I am going to scream.”

Before he knew it, she grabbed a bottle, squirted something that smelt like strawberries into her hand and scrubbed it into his scalp. He flailed a little at the actions. It felt so freaking weird. He wasn’t sure he liked it or not.

“I swear you’re worse than my dog.” Said Pidge. “And he was a squirmy little guy when in water.”

“Why are you doing this?” Whined Keith. “I hate this! This sucks! I already groom myself with Shiro once a week! I don’t need this! Stop treating me like a dog!”

“Oh quit complaining. You think you’re gonna get rid of your brain worms or your gigantis-homo-moronicus by being a smelly demon boy?”

“...”

“Just be thankful Lance isn’t trying to give you a bath.”

Keith went bright red. “... S-so um… Why are you doing this?”

“Because to be honest your hair feels kind of weird and gritty right now… Also you seem kind of weird and this seemed like the perfect opportunity to corner you and talk to you.”

“Oh…”

“Yeah. So what’s up demon boy? Tired of Earth yet?”

Keith shrugged. “I um… I’m kind of worried about Shiro.” Not the full truth but still the truth. “He’s throwing himself into this odd relationship with Adam and I don’t want to tell him what to do but… I’m worried that he's going to hate himself when this is all over.”

“Ah… Yeah, I heard about that.”

“Yeah…” Keith sighed and drew his knees up to his chest. “I don’t want him to become emotionally withdrawn again… When Adam died and he came back with the skull I was really confused. My dar had said Shiro was coming back with his mate. A person like my sar, but not as powerful as her… But he came back with his skull and didn’t leave our den for a long time.”

“How long?”

“In human time? About a year.”

“... Shit, really?”

“Yeah. I tried to play with him but he just ignored my and told me to go away.” Said Keith. “My dar and I brought food to him but he hardly ate anything. He was grieving so much. I hated seeing him like that. It was like he didn’t want to be part of the pack anymore… Like nothing I could do would make him happy… Like I did something wrong. Now I’m an adult I want to protect him somehow. But I don’t know how… It makes me feel small… You know how that feels right?”

She glared at him. “To be small?”

“... Well you are the shortest person here.”

She rolled her eyes. “Oh fuck you Keith. Just because I’m small doesn’t mean I’m weak. Look, Shiro is your brother and you’d do anything for him, right? I have a brother and I know we would do anything for each other. Sometimes you just have to let them make their own mistakes and you have to help them pick up the pieces.”

“... You’re wise beyond your years… Small one.”

Pidge glared at him and dumped water on his head. “Asshole demon boy.”

***

After talking with Shiro, Lance was back in the library trying to figure out of wanting to leave the nest will insult Keith and make him mad or anything. He could just imagine Keith giving him death glares and trying to avoid him for at least a week, if not a month. He found an interesting book about demon life cycles.

_Nests are an important part of a demon’s development and lifecycle. Importance varies from species to species but in general most demons use a nest to raise their kits. Species that lay eggs generally have more permanent nests than those that do not._

_Most nomadic species of demons will make temporary nests to sleep in at night. A few species such as dragons, and avian demons take great pride in their nest set ups and arrangements. It can be an integral part of their mating rituals. They need to be decorated with certain colours and materials to attract their desired spouse._

_For demons that make packs with other demons, communal packs, they are very picky about other demons they let into their nests. It’s seen as a strong bond of trust and is usually reserved for potential partners or lost/abandoned kits. Communal packs are a little more forgiving than other packs if a demon decides to leave, though it is considered disrespectful and insulting to the demon that originally invited the leaving demon into their pack._

“...” Lance sighed heavily. He was pretty sure that whatever he did Keith was going to be pissed at him. Maybe he should give him something he likes to make up for it? But the only thing he knew that Keith really likes was eating predators and Lance didn’t want to try and catfish a creep just so Keith wouldn’t be mad at him. He was going to have to rip this bandaid off soon.

He went to look for Keith and found him trying to fend off Pidge in the hallway with towel… And for some reason he was wet and wearing swimming trunks. He hissed at Pidge, threw the towel at her and crawled up the wall, settling on the ceiling and glaring at her.

“... Should I get a broom?” Asked Lance. “Why is Keith wet?”

“Gave him a bath.” Said Pidge.

“Like a dog?”

“Yeah.”

Lance looked up at Keith who was glaring at the both of them. “So… why are you angry at Pidge?”

“She tried to put a towel on my head.”

“He’s really weird about his hair.” Said Pidge calmly.

“It’s grooming damn it!” Yelled Keith as he pointed to them. “You do not get to do that! That is a pack thing! Washing my hair with that weird shampoo thing was weird enough!”

Pidge gave Lance a confused look. “Is this a demon thing?”

“I think so. Probably a pack thing.”

“It is a pack thing!” Snapped Keith.

Lance sighed and went to get a broom. When he got one he came over and tried to push Keith off the ceiling. “Get off you’re making ceiling wet.” Keith hissed and tried to grab the broom. 

While this was happening Pidge stood back and took her phone out to record the chaos that was going to unfold. She didn’t have to wait long before Keith grabbed the broom and went ahead trying to jab him back with the broom handle. It quickly turned into a tug of war battle. If they were both on the ground Keith might have had an advantage, but he needed at least one hand on the ceiling to make sure he didn’t fall.

Lance managed to bop Keith in the face with the bristles a few times while Keith poked Lance in the shoulder and cheek. “Get down now!” Snapped Lance. “I have no idea how I am meant to dry the ceiling! Get down! I am your master! You have to listen to what I have to say!”

“Fuck off! I have free will!” Snapped Keith. “I’m not your familiar!” Keith managed to pull the broom out of Lance’s hands, bit it, and quickly scuttled away down the hall.

Lance looked shocked for a moment before he raced after him. “GET YOUR DEMON ASS BACK HERE!”

“MAKE ME FUCKER!”

Lance and Pidge ran after Keith, but he was too quick. They lost sight of him. “... Well at least he was wearing clothes this time.” Muttered Lance. “Why did you bathe him like a dog?”

She shrugged. “Honestly? Because something was on his mind. When Matt or I were upset or had something on our minds we would sit in the hot tub and think it out. It would really help to just sit there while someone either distracts you by talking about something else or helps you think through everything in your head… Oh by the way Keith is not happy about Shiro and Adam being a thing.”

“Ah…”

“Yeah… He’s worried it won’t work out for them and then Shiro will become depressed or something?”

“And you got all that from washing his hair?”

“Yeah. I’d have thought you of all people would know the importance of a good beauty session?”

“There is a difference between face masks and basic hygiene.”

“True…” Said Pidge. Suddenly a grin made its way onto her face. “You know what? We should introduce the demons to face masks. They wouldn’t have used them before right? And you’re all about bonding with them at the moment, right?”

While that was true, he kind of figured that he’s have to help Keith put on a face mask. He’s have to put his hands and Keith’s face. His hands. Keith’s face. Keith’s face. His hands. Lance could feel himself starting to blush.

Luckily before Pidge could make a quip about it they both heard a scream and something hitting the floor coming from the stairwell. They both looked over the banister and saw Keith sprawled out on the bottom floor with a broken broom next to him. When glancing up the chandelier lighting everything was swinging slightly.

“... Did you try and swing from the chandelier with a fucking broom in your mouth?” Called Lance.

Keith flipped him the bird. “Fuck you!”


	38. Painted claws

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yep... Just a totally normal chapter with only cute fluffy stuff happening. That's all. Nothing devious happening here. Kudos and comment when you can. Enjoy :D

After Pidge talked about introducing the demons to face masks Lance went to talk to Shiro about demon grooming habits. Mainly because of how weird Keith was about hygiene stuff. Shiro laughed it off a little but did his best to explain Keith’s weird behaviour.

“Keith’s still young and isn’t used to any one but close family grooming him.” Said Shiro. “He isn’t used to other people touching him. He sees it as a more intimate thing than he probably should. It’s okay. He just needs to get used to it.”

So a day later Lance had bought several different kinds of face masks and a few other lotions and creams. He’s also grabbed an extra large dog brush and a dog grooming kit. He felt that it would help with his plan.

And what was his plan? The plan was simple. He and Hunk, maybe Pidge if they wanted to, would sit around and watch a movie in their pyjamas with their face masks on. Shiro, who was already interested in their human rituals, would come by with Keith and join in. He’d get Keith to join in too. Lance wasn’t sure if this was a good idea, but it was a fun idea. And right now he wanted to procrastinate instead of actually doing magic stuff.

So there the trio were. Sitting around the lounge room. Hunk eating popcorn, Pidge chanel surfing, and Lance brushing Pidge’s hair back into what could only be described as a pineapple hairdo.

“You think this is going to work?” Asked Hunk. “Like, I’m all for this but I don’t really know if they will be interested in this… I mean, it isn’t really a demon thing?”

Lance shrugged. “Who cares? If they aren’t interested I don’t really care. We can still have a fun night. Even if you’re just placating me.”

Pidge shrugged. “Meh, it’s whatever. Kind of nice to do it once in a while.”

“Aw, thanks Pidge. You want the charcoal mud mask or the sea breeze gel mask?”

“Sea breeze Thanks.”

Lance happily slapped the goo onto her face and smeared it around. He’d always liked doing this kind of stuff with his sisters. He’d always found it fun. They would stay up for hours as they wore face masks and watched movies together. Sometimes they’d do each other’s nails and hair. If Shiro felt more comfortable staying in his manticore form then he would have a lot of hair to brush.

After a while Shiro walked past the room with Keith. “What are you guys doing?” Asked Shiro as he wandered in with Keith. The younger demon looked slightly confused as to what was going on.

“Treating ourselves.” Said Lance. “You guys ever use face masks or anything before?”

Shiro shook his head and sat by the lounge. “No. What’s it like?”

“Makes your face feel really nice. Want to try it?”

“Sure. You want to have a go Keith?”

Keith didn’t look too sure of himself but he reluctantly nodded and sat close to Shiro while eyeing all of the bottles and tubs of stuff. He eyes the brushes and the scrunchies. “What are those for?”

Lance pointed to Pidge. “You have to have your hair tied back or it’ll get stuck in your hair. It’s not fun. Want me to brush and tie your hair back?”

“No!” Snapped Keith.

“Yes.” Said Shiro.

Keith glared at the Manticore. “You just want people to brush your mane.”

“Yes.”

Pidge grabbed a dog brush, a few scrunchies, and climbed onto Shiro’s back. “Man, your mane is really thick.” She started digging at it with the dog brush. “Is this meant to be a display of strength of something?”

Shiro made a pleased sound and let her go at it. “Manticore skin is tough, but male manticore need that bit of extra protection. When it comes to mating females are smaller, but they have claws so large they can’t retract. They are vicious and will go for the neck. If they don’t want to mate with you they will try and kill you. If you get too close to their cubs they will kill you. If you’ve mated and they want you to leave they will kill you. That’s how my dar died.”

Pidge paused. “Your parents got together and she murdered him after the deed?”

Shiro shook his head. “No. My dar got too close to cubs at the watering hole. The female manticore’s ripped him apart. We ate him for dinner.”

“... Holy shit.”

“Cannibalism is common for many demon species.”

Pidge nodded a little and looked over at Hunk. “Hey, help me out here? It’s gonna take forever to comb and tie all this mess out of the way.” 

While those two started combing and tying back Shiro’s mane, Lance was trying to convince Keith to let him tie his hair back. He still didn’t seem very happy about anything. In fact he seemed to actively try to avoid Lance’s hands when he reached for it with a brush.

“No.”

“Come on Keith.” Whined Lance. “It’s not that bad. Look at how happy Shiro is.”

“Yeah well, Shiro likes it when anyone combs his mane.”

“And you don’t like it when you get your hair combed?”

“... Just let me do it.” Grumbled Keith. He was pouting right now, which Lance thought was super cute right now.

“Have you ever tied your mullet back before?”

“...” Keith grumbled some more but he gave up and made no more protests when Lance went to comb his hair back.

It was soft and fluffy. It seemed like using shampoo at least once really did wonders for his hair. He lightly dragged the comb over Keith’s scalp and frowned a little when the comb bumped up against something rough.

“Horns.” Muttered Keith.

“Huh?”

“Horns.” He said a little louder. “Those are where my horns are… I don’t really have them out much here since they get in the way…”

“Oh yeah, you did have horns when I first saw you, didn’t you?” Lance remembered it. Their first meeting was interesting to say the least. He was pretty sure no one had tried to banish a demon by kicking them in the balls and breaking their nose before. “Are they your full horns? They seem kind of broken.”

“They are broken.” Said Keith. “They are meant to kind of fan out and stuff to discourage other demons from trying to eat me… Since I’m not a full demon my horns don’t grow back as quickly as others and they are kind of fragile by demon standards.”

“... Did you even have your horns fully out when we first met?”

“Yeah. I literally hit a wall running away from a fucking balrog.” Said Keith. “It obliterated my horns. Like pegging chalk at a wall. They just kind of… They kind of broke to shit and I knocked myself out… Then you summoned me here.”

“... So that’s why you were out of it when I summoned you?”

“Pretty much.” Said Keith quietly. “I was trying to crawl through a crack in a balrog strong hold to get to earth and find Shiro when I got spotted and almost killed… To be honest, it's just another day in hell for me.”

“...” Lance just nodded and tied Keith’s hair back. “Well, I’m glad I was able to summon you. Wouldn’t want you to get eaten by a balrog or something like that…”

Keith shrugged. “It is what it is.” He reached up and touched his hair. “... Alright then. What now?”

“Well I need to see your face and see what kind of skin stuff you need.” Very hesitantly Lance touched Keith’s face. The demon froze a little and went bright red, but he didn’t turn his head. Lance was blushing too, but he had to concentrate on skincare. “Um… So… Your skin is pretty soft… Kind of dry here and here… I think a gel mask like Pidge’s one is probably the best one for you.” He quickly looked through the products and held up two bottles. “You want honey dew or lush lime?”

“... I don’t know.”

“Lush lime it is.” Lance grabbed the tub and quickly looked over at Shiro. Hunk had taken to braiding his mane while Pidge was pulling thick matted fur out of the brush. Shiro seemed content and happily tapped his paws against the ground. “You sure do love getting pampered there huh?”

Shiro chuckled. “Can you blame me? I can’t reach a lot of these places. Feels good.”

Lance nodded and sat in front of Keith. “Okay, so don’t squirm when I put this on you and don’t touch it. It’s going to feel weird and make your skin tingle, but it’ll also feel good okay?” He started to smear the green gel over Keith’s face. He chuckled a little as the demon screwed his eyes tightly and wrinkled his nose. “Aw, you okay there Keith?”

“Feels weird…” He muttered.

“Yeah, well it’ll be fine. Should help with all that redness on your face.” Lance finished off by dabbing just a little more on the tip of Keith’s nose. “There, now try not to move your face too much and let it set.” He cleaned his hands and went over to Shiro. “Now for you… You have some really dry skin… Yeah, you need a moisturizing and exfoliating mango mint face mask. He grabbed a creamy yellow gel and quickly covered Shiro’s face.

Keith snickered a little. “You look ridiculous.” 

“Speak for yourself.” Said Shiro. Your face is all green.”

“Hey no fighting you to.” Said Hunk. “Are we going to do nail stuff too? I’m not good with manicure stuff.”

“I was just going to paint my nails.” Said Pidge as she dug the dog brush behind Shiro’s ear. “Is this too rough?”

“Nah, you’re good.” He said. “So, is this a thing humans do often?”

Pidge shrugged. “Nah, not really. Lance does try and do a face mask thing, every night but you know. It’s whatever. There are places fully dedicated to doing this stuff.”

Lance sighed dramatically. “Don’t talk about that Pidge. It’ll make me want to go on a spa day…”

“What’s a spa?” Asked Keith.

“A fancy place where mostly women go to get massages, sit in hot boxes and sweat, swim in pools of water and act like snooty rich assholes. Sometimes they give you alcohol.” Said Pidge. “So Lance would probably fit right in now that he’s loaded.”

“Ah, shut up Pidge.” Whined Lance. “Just because it’s true doesn’t mean you have to say it!”

She snickered and looked down at Shiro’s legs. “So, you want us to have a go at giving you a manipedi?”

“A what?”

“A manicure and pedicure?”

“What?”

“... You want us to trim and shiny your claws or not lion man?”

“Oh. Probably not the best idea.” Said Shiro. He flexed one of his paws and let his claws show through. They were rough and dirty looking. “My nails are like steel. I don’t know if you have anything to trim and clean them.”

Pidge looked at his claws and then over at Hunk. “Files and sandpaper?”

He nodded in agreement as he got up. “Files and sandpaper. I’ll be back in a bit.” Hunk left and came back with a toolbox. He sat by Shiro and Pidge quickly sat next to him and started to go through the files.

“I think this will do. Let us know if this hurts.” She put Shiro’s paw in his lap and started filing his nails back. Shiro seemed very pleased by this and happily let her go. Hunk did the same with one of Shiro’s back paws.

Lance looked back at Keith. He was glancing over at Shiro’s paws and down at his own fingers. It made Lance smile a little. “You want your nails done too?”

“... No. My claws are fine the length they are.”

“Really?”

“Yeah.”

“Want to paint them?”

Keith suddenly looked a hundred times more confused. “Why would I want to paint my claws?”

Lance shrugged. “Because it looks cool? It’s fun?”

“It’s dumb.”

“... If it isn’t practical it’s dumb to you isn’t it?”

“Yes.”

Lance rolled his eyes and grabbed some nail polish. “Choose a colour.”

“... Red.”

Lance took Keith’s hand and started to paint his nails a dark red. Keith’s nails were similar to a normal human’s but now that he was looking at them they did look thicker than a human’s and a little more pointed, but nothing too noticeable.

“You look good in red.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. It um… It off sets your eyes and junk.”

Keith nodded a little. “... You know red is meant to show danger, right? Only predators and poisonous things are red.”

“Well, you do eat people. So red is kind of fitting for you.”

“I guess so… What colour are you going to paint your nails?”

“Blue of course. I love blue. It’s my favourite colour.” He showed Keith the bottle of KBShimmer blue glitter nail polish. “Also I like glitter.”

“Okay… What polish are you using on me?”

“Red holographic nail polish.” Said Lance. “Kind of shiny and glittery, but not as out there as mine.”

Keith nodded a little and looked over at Pidge. “Are you guys painting your nails?”

“Yep. Fluro green all the way.” She put the file down and started scrubbing the claws down with the sandpaper.”

“I’m only painting two of my nails.” Said Hunk. “I’m always paranoid that it’ll chip off a little when I’m cooking so like, trying to minimise that… I’m going with yellow by the way.”

“Well since everyone is painting their nails…” Said Shiro as he looked at the choices on offer. His eyes lit up when he saw a few bottles of the multichrome shift shaders. “... Those look cool.”

Lance nodded in agreement. “Yeah. The shift shaders are really neat. I think I brought a paint brush down to help out with that.”

Soon everyone was sitting around with face masks, freshly painted nails, and watching The Curse of The Were-Rabbit. The demons seemed to be entertained by the claymation and threw in their opinion about the validity of if were-rabbits were an actual thing. They both agreed that were-rabbits, while improbable, were possible, but they would eat meat and not vegetables. Hunk did try to explain that eating vegetables was more kid friendly, but the demons didn’t seem to understand that, considering they both hunted and killed their food at a young age.

Suddenly Pidge ripped off her face mask. This startled both the demons. Pidge paid them no mind and lightly patted her face. “Ah, refreshing.”

Lance nodded in agreement. “Okay, everyone time to peel off that face goo.” He peeled his own off while Pidge helped Shiro and Hunk did he own. Keith seemed a little reluctant to peel off his own mask. The demon rubbed his hand over his face and seemed surprised by how it felt now. “So… what do you think?” He asked.

Keith shrugged and took his hair out of the hair tie. His hair seemed to dramatically fall around his face and neck. He looked beautiful. Stunning even. “It wasn’t bad… Just weird and different.”

“But in a good way, right?”

“In a good way.”

Shiro was busy rubbing his face into his paw and shaking his head. It reminded Lance of a cat or a dog rubbing their face into a couch. “You okay there Shiro?”

“My nose has been itchy for the past ten minutes.”

“Ah. Want some help getting all the ties out of your mane?”

“Yes please.” It was a team effort to get every last one out but when they were done Shiro quickly shook his head and made his mane look extremely fluffy. He seemed very pleased by this and happily relaxed with the rest of the group. Keith leaned against him and attempted to undo the braids woven into his mane.

Lance smiled a little and watched Keith work. He was very diligent in his work. Keeping Shiro’s mane looking nice seemed to be extremely important to Keith. It was probably a demon thing. Lance thought it was cute. Keith was cute. Everything about him was cute. As he stared at Keith he couldn’t help but smile at him. He was too adorable. The way his nose wrinkled slightly when he concentrated. He even started to stick out his tongue a little.

His stomach did a small flip but then Lance was quickly overtaken by a feeling of unease. It was that small uneasy feeling one would get just before they got attacked by someone or something. That gut feeling telling him that something was not right. Maybe that was just his normal human instinct telling him that he needed to avoid Keith because he was a demon. It made him a little sad since he liked Keith. It was probably a rarity for a demon to fall in love with a human anyway. Besides, he wasn’t picking up any kinds of emotions similar to when Shiro looked at Adam. That was his only reference point for love since he started sensing it. Keith didn’t feel love for him.

***

Honerva had gone through hours of security footage on her own to find what she needed. She was still hellbent on finding and killing Lance. It wasn’t even for the sake of getting the ring at this point. She was just spiteful, hateful, and wanted him gone from this world forever. She wouldn’t rule out that she was just being angry that she didn’t kill Marcello with her own hands.

She knew where he was, but the house had spells upon spells protecting it. Even a damned undead siege wasn’t enough to shake him. It would be pointless to start again. She had been brainstorming thousands of ways to find him, take him, and torture him for his uncle’s sins. However he was always around demons. The Manticore he stole from her, and a Sin-eater that Lance had summoned. Either one alone could easily slaughter a dozen humans without even trying.

So she took a week off from plotting her revenge at the behest of Zarkon. Now she had a clear head and realised that she had been thinking about this all wrong. She knew a human who was very, very close to Lance. One of the interns. Katie Holt.

She had talked with Lotor about the possibility of capturing her immediately, but he was reluctant. Apparently she was exceeding his expectations and wanted her to continue finding patterns in the maze. She had mapped over sixty percent of the maze in the few months that she had worked there, while their own people had taken several years to only complete less than three percent of it. Lotor wouldn’t consent to Katie being taken until she had ninety five percent of the maze, minimum.

Honerva didn’t like this, but Zarkon had agreed with Lotor. He wanted to get as much usefulness out of Katie Holt as possible before they used her to get to Lance. If Lance didn’t come for her then they could just kill her. No skin off their nose if another human died. It had been a while since Sendak had tortured someone so young. He always did like torturing the young ones the most.


	39. Love and Lust

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A bit of adashi and a bit of klance... Feel free to scream at me when you're done reading this chapter. I am ready ya heathens. Kudos and comment when you can. Enjoy :D

Shiro was kind of nervous. He and Adam had set up their date for a Thursday. Lance had given him lots of advice on how to act in a restaurant setting and how he should act towards waiters. He also gave him advice on how to quickly get the fuck out of there if everything went to shit and it turned out that Adam was an asshole. Shiro really appreciated it.

He stood around the staff car park in some smart casual clothes that Lance had picked out for him. He said that Adam would appreciate the effort to look nice for him. Shiro hoped he would. The clothes Lance got for him felt a little tight in places that he thought it shouldn’t be, but then again Shiro was used to wearing clothes a little larger clothes. He had a stressful time just wearing those suits that one time when Lance’s mother came over. Now he was wearing jeans.

“Shiro!” Called Adam as he walked over to him.

Shiro smiled at him. “Hey. How was work?”

“I am going to stab an entitled bitch in the eye and her fucking daughter too.”

“... What happened?”

Adam sighed dramatically as they walked to his car. “Okay, this is a long story, but one of the female students in my class has been bitching and whining that I am not giving her fair grades. She never did any work to begin with. Fucking idiot. She’s some fucking trust fund bitch whose parents paid her way through school. I gave her chances! Dozens of them! She never took them!”

Shiro nodded and quietly got into Adam’s car. “ Sounds rough.”

“Yeah, and then we have a meeting with the dean along with the entitled family and the little bitch had the balls to accuse me of sexual assault! And her parents want me fired!”

“Shit, what happened?”

Adam shook his head. “The dean and I have known each other for years. He knows I am gay. I have never been interested in girls. He even knew I was going out with you tonight. So the entitled bitch is getting expelled. Apparently she’s tried this shit with other teachers too. I fucking hate teaching somedays.”

“... Do you need a drink?”

“Yes. A strong one… Do you have a driver’s license?”

“No…”

Adam thought for a moment. “Eh, I can make this work.” He started driving and let out a long sigh. “So… sorry to dump all that on you like that. Today has been stressful. How have you been?”

Shiro smiled a little and shrugged. “I’ve been good. Can’t complain about much. Things have been good for me. Not too much drama.”

“Well that’s good… So you did say you were good with going anywhere, right?”

“Yep.”

“Okay.” Adam took Shiro to a nice restaurant. Shiro wasn’t sure what kind of food they made there but it smelt nice enough and Adam was happy. So that was good.

Once they were settled at their table Shiro decided to get down to business. They needed to get to know each other. This Adam on the surface was just like his Adam, but he knew there would be key differences that would make or break their relationship. He wanted to find those things. This was what he assumed this was with Adam anyway. They had talked for a bit the other day, but they didn’t really know too much about each other.

The conversation started out simple enough. Talking about their jobs. Adam had been working at the college for three years now. He likes his job but hates entitled students and parents. Shiro couldn’t agree more about the entitled parents part. He retold the story of when Lance and Keith went to the playground and ran into a screaming hell bitch. He of course had to change a few details, but Adam found the story entertaining.

“Parents are crazy aren’t they?” Said Adam. “My dad still asks me how school is going and not work.”

Shiro chuckled a little. “Parents are like that.”

“What are you parents like?”

“Um…” Shiro couldn’t think of a nice way to say his dad got murdered by his own mother and aunts, and then was eaten by everyone in his pack including himself. “Well, my father passed away at a young age. My mum and I… Well we kind of drifted apart when I became a teenager. We don’t talk anymore.” It was easier to say that then explain his mother pretty much told him when he was going through puberty that he needed to get out of the pack soon and join the other male manticore. If he didn’t she would not protect him if one of the other females attacked him.

Adam looked like he wanted to ask more, but restrained himself. “So Keith is your brother?”

Shiro nodded. “Yeah. Adopted brother. Kind of. I ended up living with Keith and his dad for a while. We aren’t officially brothers, but that’s fine. Family’s what you make of it, right?”

“... You’re kind of an open book aren’t you?”

He shrugged. “Well people tend to ask family questions and get suspicious when you start dodging them. I find it better to be open and honest about it.”

“True…”

“Yeah. So do you have siblings?”

“Only child.”

The conversation continued on and things were going well, at least from Shiro’s perspective. He was as honest with Adam as he could be without pretty much saying he was a manticore that ate people like popcorn back in the day. He was doing a pretty good job about it too.

Eventually when the meal was over Shiro want to pay, but Adam stopped him. “I asked you out so I’ll pay. Besides, you’ll get the next one. Right?” Hearing that made Shiro blush a little but he agreed. This meant Adam wanted to see him again.

Afterwards they walked around for a little bit and for the first time in a long time Shiro felt happy. This Adam was different, he liked stake over vegetable soup. He liked wine with his dinner over hot tea. He liked cakes instead of jam. Hell, this Adam wore glasses when the previous one didn’t. Shiro liked the changes. It meant things could be unpredictable and different. It was new and exciting. Things could be different.

Their little walk eventually lead them back to Adam’s car. He was kind enough to offer Shiro a ride home. Shiro gladly accepted. Lance had taught him how to call a taxi or an uber, but Shiro wasn’t too comfortable doing that.

As they pulled up to the house Shiro couldn’t help but smile at Adam. “I had a good time.”

He returned the smile. “Me too. I’ll text you later?”

“Sure… Um, if you ever feel like it, you’re welcome to just drop by.” Said Shiro. “I’m almost always here doing one thing or another. Just like, give me a heads up when you’re close?”

“Sure.” Adam pulled up by the front door. “Is it really okay?”

“Of course it is.” Shiro wondered if he would be out of line to kiss Adam right now. He wanted to. He really did. But he didn’t want to ruin this. He wasn’t sure what to do now. “So…”

“So?” Asked Adam almost playfully.

Shiro could feel himself blushing. “I um… I guess I should go now?”

“Hmm, I guess so.” Adam leaned over and gently kissed Shiro on the cheek. “Goodnight Shiro.”

Shiro knew he was bright red right now. He quickly nodded and left the car as he stuttered out a goodnight. He fumbled with his house key and walked into the door. Twice. Adam didn’t leave until Shiro was actually inside the house. Probably a little concerned that Shiro was having trouble getting in.

It was kind of late and everyone was probably off doing their own thing by now. Shiro took this opportunity and quickly changed back into his Manticore form. He sighed contently and walked into the lounge room where Hunk was watching a cooking show on the TV.

He smiled gave him a little wave. “Hey. So how did your date with Adam go?”

Shiro grinned as he sat on the floor next to him. “I think it went really well. This Adam is different. Like, on the surface it’s the past Adam, but he’s very different. He’s different enough already for me to tell that they are definitely different people and I… I really want to see him again and he wants to see me again.”

“Well that’s awesome man.” Said Hunk. “Glad things are working out.”

“Yeah.” Shiro settled down and rested his chin on the coffee table. The people on TV were making cupcakes. “... Hey Hunk?”

“Yeah?”

“Humans give food as gifts too, right?”

“Yeah. Why?”

“Could you maybe help me learn how to make cakes? Adam likes cake.”

“Sure. You know what kind of cake he likes?”

“There’s more than one kind?”

“... Oh boy… This is going to be rough…”

***

When Adam got back to his apartment he flopped down onto the couch and sighed dramatically. When he got no response from Curtis, who was actually sitting in the easy chair next to him eating mac and cheese, he sighed louder. Curtis responded by turning up the volume on the TV.

“... Curtis you’re an asshole.”

“And you’re an overly dramatic drama queen.” He responded. “Do you want me to ask you how your date with Shiro the hero went?”

Adam blushed. “I called him that once!”

“Once per minute.”

“I hate you.”

“I hate you too.” Curtis turned the volume back down. “So how was it?”

Adam sighed dramatically again. “Well he was perfect. Showed up in the staff car park like we agreed and he looked like a fucking god. Ripped as fuck, perfect jaw line, perfect smile, perfect hair. Overall he just radiated this kindness that you just don’t see in people these days.”

“So he’s getting a second date?”

“I’m gonna bitch up a storm if he doesn’t want a third date.” Stated Adam. “... He’s just… There is something about him. I couldn’t put my finger on it but when I first saw him-”

“-It was like meeting an old friend.” Said Curtis as he stirred his mac and cheese around in its bowl. “You always bring that up when you talk about him. When are you going ring shopping?”

Adam rolled his eyes. “Ha, ha, ha. Shut up. It’s just weird. I feel like I know him from somewhere, but I don’t know where. I know he didn’t go to school with us or was even in the same neighbourhood... I just… I feel like I know him and I feel like he knows me somehow… Have you ever felt like that with anyone?”

Curtis shrugged and ate more mac and cheese. “Well you’re a romantic. Always wanting to eventually find the one. Think it could be Shiro the hero?”

“Shut up Curtis. You’re just a cynic. And maybe…” Adam stared at the ceiling. He knew Shiro from somewhere. He just couldn’t place it. Maybe he’d seen him at a bus stop once? On a train? In a shop? He had no idea. But he was drawn to him for some reason. It was like talking to an old friend. “Maybe we were lovers in a past life?” 

Curtis chuckled a little. “Yeah. You were some young debutant and he was a dashing highway man that stole your money and your heart.”

“And what makes you think I was the woman? I could have been a man in my past life.”

Curtis shrugged. “Friends intuition?”

“Asshole.”

“Dumb ass.”

“Suck a dick Curtis.”

“Rather eat my dinner and watch my shows.”

“What are you watching anyway?”

“Crime show.”

***

A little after Shiro left for his date with Adam, Lane had told Keith that he was going to start sleeping back in his own bed. Instead of sensing anger or relief from Keith when he said that, Lance just felt sadness. Keith might have acted like it didn’t affect him, but he was definitely sad about it and quickly left for the nest after he ate three T-bone steaks, including the bones.

Lance felt bad for Keith. He was probably upset because Shiro wasn’t going to be back for a long time and he could be back long after Keith went to bed. Which probably made him uneasy. He liked sleeping with other people in the nest. Maybe Lance should have put it off again?

He wasn’t sure. Lance just sighed heavily as he made himself comfortable in his own bed. It felt too big now. He didn’t like it. He kind of wanted to go back and see if Keith would let him back into the nest, but he doubted it. He’d upset Keith and therefore Keith wouldn’t be up for being nice to him. It sucked. Lance tried to close his eyes and go to sleep, but he couldn’t. He let out another long sigh.

Suddenly his bedroom door slowly opened and snapped shut. It made Lance jump and quickly sat up. At the end of his bed a creature, shrouded in darkness, stared at him with bright yellow eyes. Lance yelped, grabbed the closest heavy object, a book, and chucked it at the thing.

He hit is square in the face and it fell off the bed, swearing up a storm. “Son of a fucking wore! Shit! Fuck! Sar fucker!”

“... Keith?” Lance turned on his lamp and watched as the demon stood up, looking annoyed. “What the fuck?”

“Couldn’t sleep…” He muttered. “I just wanted to see if you were still awake so we could sleep together.”

“... Is this because Shiro isn’t back yet?”

Keith looked slightly hurt, but he nodded. “Yeah… I can’t sleep when I’m alone unless I have to. I just don’t feel safe.”

“You know that no one’s going to hurt you when you’re here, right?”

“Don’t you think I know that?” Snapped Keith. “This isn’t Hell. I’m not going to get eaten by something in my sleep, but I just… I just can’t…” He looked defeated. “Can I sleep in your nest with you? Please? Just for one night?”

“...” Lance pulled back the bed sheets, silently inviting Keith in. The demon quickly got in with him and attempted to get comfortable. He turned this way and that, but couldn’t get comfy. “It’s a bed.”

Keith glanced over at Lance. “Huh?”

“Humans sleep in beds.” Said Lance. “Not nests.”

“Whatever.” Muttered the demon as they continued to get comfortable. He ended up curling around Lance, resting his head on his chest. Lance hoped that Keith couldn’t hear his heart racing at how close they were.

Without really thinking Lance started to run his fingers through Keith’s hair. It still felt soft and silky. The demon purred softly. “... So um… nests and stuff huh?”

Keith hummed and lightly bumped his head against Lance’s chin. “Yep. Nests. Nests are good.”

“I read a bit about nests and why demons would try and invite other demons into their nests…”

“Oh? Did you now?”

“Yeah…” Said Lance quitely. “I know it was mainly to make sure I didn’t die because of weird magic stuff and all but like, since I’m not a kit and everything… demons invite potential mates into their nests?”

Keith lifted himself up onto his elbows and looked down at Lance. He seemed slightly confused as he studied Lance’s face. “That is true… So you see me as a potential mate?”

That was unexpected. “Huh?”

“You invited me into your nest.”

“It’s not a-”

“Bed. Whatever. Same thing, right?” Asked Keith. He gently reached up and lightly ran his fingers over Lance’s jawline. “You understand what this means to a demon, and you let me in anyway. I’m not a kit either, so you would have to see me as a potential mate too, right?”

“I um… I don’t know…”

Keith nodded a little and gently kissed him. It was similar to the times Keith had fed from him, but there was no rush or a sense of urgency. It was gentle and loving and something Lance didn’t expect at all, but he found himself chasing Keith’s lips when he tried to pull away. He wanted more. Luckily for him, Keith seemed more than happy to continue making out with him.

Lance pulled him closer, running his hands down Keith’s sides. The demon shivered a little and moved between Lance’s legs, shamelessly bumping their hips together, making them both moan. Even lightly feeling Keith brush up against him made heat pool in Lance’s lower half. Keith was 100% a grower, and from the few times he had seen Keith naked he wasn’t small by any means. He wasn’t going to be able to walk tomorrow, or next week.

“K-Keith…” He whispered quietly.

“Yeah?” The way the light cast shadows across his face made Keith look otherworldly and ethereal. If Lance didn’t know Keith was a demon then he’d mistake him for an angel. “Do you want to keep going?”

“...” Would this be a good idea? Would this somehow taint his soul? If so which sin would he be committing? Premarital sex? Homosexual sex? Sex with a demon? Would this damn his soul? Did it even matter? From what he had figured out just from talking to people it didn’t really matter what he did. When he died he would die and his soul would go to the astral plane, right? He had no idea. Could he give himself to a demon? To Keith?

“Lance?” The demon looked worried and started to move back, but Lance quickly grabbed him and kept him where he was.

“Yes.” Said Lance. “Take me.”

With that consent Keith didn’t hesitate to ravage Lance’s body with kisses, bites, and licks. It felt like Keith’s hands were everywhere all at once across his body as the demon quickly rid them of any clothing that dared barred their bodies from making contact. It made Lance shiver with anticipation. He had to admit, demons really went all out to get what they wanted.

Lance pulled Keith into another kiss as he wrapped his hips around Keith’s body. Feeling every part of their bodies touching and rubbing against each other was driving Lance crazy. He was mentally prepared for this. He’d be fine ordering Keith around for a few days while he regained the feeling back in his legs.

“Keith.” He moaned breathlessly into the demon’s ear. “Fuck me.”

***

Lance’s eyes snapped open as he clutched his bed sheets tightly. First time in months that he’d had a relatively normal dream and of course it was a fucking wet dream. With Keith. This was both embarrassing and kind of mortifying. 

At least nothing super freaky had happened in that dream. Nothing like weird vagina monsters or dick creatures with hooks or anything fucked up like that. Which was nice. Still he had a dream about Keith. Having sex with Keith.

He groaned and attempted to suffocate himself with his own pillow. There was no way Lance was going to be able to look Keith in the eye when he next saw him. But the house was huge. He could avoid Keith for a little while till he felt like he could look at the demon without feeling extremely guilty.

***

Keith bolted up in the nest like someone had stabbed him in the leg. It took him a few seconds to process where he was and what had just happened. He had gone to the nest early after Lance had said he was going to start sleeping in his own bed again, which upset Keith a lot. He had invited Lance in, somewhat reluctantly, but he invited him in. And Lance knew Shiro would be back late so he’d be sleeping alone. 

Then he had that weird dream. A dream about Lance. Where they were together… and they did things… and they… 

“...” Keith’s face went bright red as he remembered in painstaking details what his brain had cobbled together. That was too embarrassing. So embarrassing. How was Keith meant to look Lance in the eye the next day when they saw each other? There was only one logical thing to do at this point, and thankfully it was something Keith was quite good at; repress those thoughts and ignore it.

Keith was sure that the cause of this was his brain worms. He needed to talk to Allura and Coran about getting something to get rid of them before they completely ate his brain.


	40. Candy hearts

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Because I like you all you get another chapter. Two days in a row. Thought I had to make it up a little after the whole; It was all just a dream! Thing right at the end. Enjoy some tooth rotting fluff. Kudos and comment when you can. Enjoy :D

The next day when Lance got up and went to the kitchen he was surprised to hear Hunk yelling. “HOW DID YOU DO THAT? HOW IS THAT PHYSICALLY POSSIBLE?!” He looked into the kitchen to see a ploom of smoke billowing out of the skink, like something had just been set on fire. Shiro was standing around looking guilty, and in his human form for once, as Hunk just looked visibly distressed and confused.

“... What did I miss?” Asked Lance.

“I was trying to teach Shiro to make pancakes…” Said Hunk calmly. “I was teaching him how to do it by hand and everything, and it caught fire.”

“Oh, well just watch the stove more.”

“You don’t understand Lance.” Said Hunk. “Shiro was mixing everything in the bowl. With a heat proof, plastic spoon. Then it caught fire. It just caught fire.”

Shiro nodded a little. “I think I’m cursed when it comes to cooking. Everything I cook burns.”

Hunk sighed and tried to salvage what he could. “Just… how?”

“I don’t know.” Muttered Shiro. “I’m bad at this… Anyway, how are you Lance?”

“I’m okay… Where is Keith?”

“He said he had something to do today.” Said Shiro. “He’s probably doing some solo hunting by himself.”

“Ah.” At least Lance wasn’t going to have to worry about running into Keith at any time soon. “So… You guys need some help with cooking?”

Hunk nodded. “Yeah. I think we should try something else… Brownies?”

Shiro nodded in agreement. “Brownies sound good.”

Lance happily helped them make brownies. He didn’t even know why they were making brownies in the first place. It would give him time to think over how he was going to handle the Keith situation. It was just a nice, calm, relaxing thing. He could clear his head. Just forget about it. Dreams were weird and didn’t mean anything anyway. It would be fine.

He looked over at Shiro just in time to see him stir the brownie mix in the bowl and it caught fire. “HOW?!”

***

Keith had gone to see Allura and Coran. If they couldn’t help him with his brain worms no one could. He had to stand around a little in the shop while some old lady bought some tea from Coran. When she left the man grinned at him and waved him over.

“Hello there Keith. What brought you here today?”

“I think I have brain worms.”

“Oh… That’s not good…” He went to the front door and quickly put up a sign saying they would be closed for thirty minutes. “Okay, let’s see what we can do about this…” Ha made Keith sit on a stool while he grabbed a large dusty book and some strange looking medical tools. He grabbed one of them and shoved it up Keith’s nose. “Have any nosebleeds lately? Anything wrong with the old sniffer?”

Keith made an uncomfortable sound as he tried not to move. “No nosebleeds.”

Coran hummed a little and stuck a different tool in his ear. “Well that rules out the gigliophage branch of brain worms… Any ear aches? Itching deep in the canal? Bleeding?”

“No my ears have been fine.”

“Crying blood?”

“No.”

Coran frowned and quickly looked through the book. “Okay… So it’s not gigliophage, daromite, or crella… Have you had unprotected sex?”

Keith went bright red. “NO!”

“Then it’s not rectila.” He continued to look through the book. “Stomach cramps? Have any stomach or gut pains? Specifically any where you are vomiting blood or it’s you know… coming out the other end. Be it bladder or…”

“No… No bleeding.”

“Then it’s not a gastral worm either…” 

As he continued to look Allura came downstairs. She looked a little confused and slightly curious as to what was going on. “Good morning Keith. Is something the matter?”

“I have brain worms.” He muttered. “Just trying to figure out what kind.”

She nodded and looked over Coran’s shoulder. “Have you had any nosebleeds?”

“It’s not a gigliophage.” Said Coran. “I’ve run through pretty much all of the worms that it could be, but it doesn’t seem to be any of them.”

“Well it could be something else that presents as brain worms?” Suggested Allura. “Could be a virus or a mite depending on the symptoms… You did ask what his symptoms were before you started Coran?”

The man became slightly flustered. “W-well he was so matter of fact about it I just assumed he had some confirmation it was brain worms.”

Allura shook her head and sat on the counter. “Now Keith, why do you think you have brain worms? What are your symptoms?”

Keith frowned and reluctantly told them what was wrong with him. “I feel sick. Like my stomach is doing flips all the time but I don’t vomit. My heart starts racing like crazy and it’s nearly impossible to calm down. My face heats up so much and it’s started to spread down my face and neck. Sometimes my hands get sweaty too…”

The fae shared mildly concerned looks. “That doesn’t sound like brain worms to me.” Said Coran. “Sounds like it might be an allergy thing. Any particular triggers? A fabric or a plant perhaps?”

“... Lance.” Muttered Keith.

“... Um, I don’t think we heard you correctly…” Said Allura. “Did you say you were allergic to Lance?”

Keith nodded. “It only happens when I’m around him or get too close to him. I have no idea how or why it happens… Maybe he’s using some weird cleaning product on himself?”

The fae shared a look and shared a knowing look. “You don’t have brain worms.” Said Allura. “I highly doubt you ever did.”

“... Are you sure?” He asked. Keith had no idea if they were messing around with him or not.

“Not one hint of brain worms my boy.” Said Coran with confidence. “You’re brain worm free.” 

“Well what’s wrong with me then?” He asked.

Allura chuckled. “Really Keith? You don’t know? You’re in love with Lance.”

“... Come again?”

She pointed at him. “You are in love with Lance.”

Keith’s face went bright red. “W-what? No. No. No. Noooooo. Lance? Pfft. Him? No way. He’s just some weird human. That’s all. I um… I don’t like him at all.”

Allura shrugged. “Say that as much as you like, but it is quite obvious that you do like him. Those are all the signs that you love someone.”

“... Dreams! I also had some weird dream with Lance in it!”

“What was in the dream?” Asked Coran.

“...” Keith blushed and tried to make himself look as small as possible on the stool. “N-never mind…” He didn’t want to tell them about the sex dream that he had about Lance. That was probably a sure fire sign that he had feelings for Lance. He couldn’t help but blush horribly at that thought.

Allura chuckled and gave him an understanding look. “It’s okay Keith. Falling in love can be a little scary. Your feelings might change soon, but isn’t it nice to be in love for a short time?”

Keith nodded a little, but was still very confused. “So um… If I were to pursue Lance… What would I give him to court him?”

“What do demons usually give?” Asked Coran.

Keith shrugged. “Favourite foods? Favourite parts of foods? My dar gave my sar one hundred chickens and ten cows to court her… Also an assortment of animal horns and skulls.”

“Food is good…” Said Allura. “But think more human… Like… fancy sweets.”

“... Fancy sweets?”

Coran nodded in agreement. “I’d say heart shaped things are good. Usually red or pink are good too.”

“... Heart shapes?” Keith thought it was weird humans wanted things shaped like hearts. But he could do that. He’d heard Hunk talk about butcher shops and how if you asked they could usually give you organs along with meat. He could get a big heart from them and roll it in sugar. Or maybe he could get lots of small hearts and roll them in sugar? Either way he was going to roll some organs in sugar.

Allura nodded along. “Candy hearts are always a good go to item for people in love. Maybe a heart dipped in chocolate? But what kind of chocolate does Lance like? He seems like a milk chocolate kind of guy to me.”

“Hearts dipped in chocolate?” Poor Keith was getting more and more confused by the moment. Should he get a lot of chicken hearts and dip them in chocolate? What kind of chocolate was he meant to use? He assumed the stuff one puts on ice cream since it was runny. But what if it was meant to be hard chocolate? How was he going to get hard chocolate to stick to a chicken heart? This was stressing him out.

“What about that little fancy boutique candy place?” Asked Coran. “The one that does all the fancy candies for weddings, birthdays and baby showers? Pretty sure that have some nice once for a young lad in love.”

“Excellent idea Coran!” Said Allura excitedly. She smiled at Keith. “I can take you there now if you like. It’ll be fun.”

“I um… S-sure?”

She quickly grabbed Keith by the arm and whisked him away to the rich part of the shopping district. It was the kind of place where everything seemed to be made of white, pastels, glass and trimmed with gold. Keith hated it.

Allura didn’t seem to notice as she walked into a candy shop. A woman stood behind the counter in all black and a pink and blue striped apron. She nodded over at Allura. “Hey Allura. You want more candies for your shop or something?”

“Yes please Nyam.” She walked over and happily waved Keith over. “Nyma, this is Keith. He’s a Sin-eater. Keith, this is Nyma. She’s a water nymph.”

Keith nodded and waved at her. “Hey.”

Nyma was a little surprised but waved back at him. “Sup demon boy. Thought your kind were strictly meat eaters?”

“We are…”

“Right…” She looked back over at Allura. “So you want your candy or what? Rolo’s doing nothing in the back.”

“Actually, can you make us some heart shaped candies? Keith’s trying to woo a certain someone.”

Keith blushed. “H-hey!”

Nyma chuckled. “Demon boy’s got a little crush on someone? Any flavours you want? We got all the usual fruit flavours, but if your love isn’t human we have three different kinds of blood, four different kinds of meat, and one fermented egg flavour.”

“Fruit flavours.” Said Keith quietly. “He’s um… He’s human.” 

That surprised Nyma a little. “Oh? Well good luck with that demon boy. You’re gonna need it. So what flavours?”

“Strawberries and cream.” Said Allura. “Or strawberries and vanilla. Either one is good. Maybe shaped like little hearts? Those would be really good.”

“You got it.” She opened the door to the backroom. “ROLO!”

“WHAT?!”

“Strawberry and vanilla hearts! Now!”

“You’re busting my balls here Nyma!” Called Rolo. “I’m a brownie now a fucking magcian!”

She rolled her eyes and looked over at the two of them. “It’ll be a few minutes. Rolo’s been a little antsy since he’s tried to quit smoking.”

“... What’s a brownie?” Keith asked Allura quietly.

“A fae, specifically a hobgoblin. They usually perform tasks and chores at night. They are very industrious when they put their mind to it.”

“... I thought brownies were a kind of cake?”

“That too.”

After about five minutes a man came out of the back room with a bag of heart shaped candy and put them on the counter. “Done. Hey Allura. New guy.”

Keith nodded. “Hey.”

Allura paid for the candy and Keith picked it up. He was mildly confused and disappointed that it wasn’t actually heart shaped. Maybe this was just what humans liked? It certainly wasn’t heart shaped at all. He didn’t like it, but he hoped that Lance would. He thanked Allura for her help and made his way back home. Alluar was just happy to help him out apparently. Fae were weird.

Keith walked into the house and frowned. The whole place smelled like burnt cake. He didn’t like it, but he had a quick look into the kitchen to see no less than five mixing bowls with burnt stuff in them. If Shiro were to hazard a guess, Someone probably let Shiro cook.

He had a quick look around to see if Lance was in any of his usual spots but he wasn’t. So what was he meant to do with the candy? Normally a demon would place their courting gifts in the nest of the one they were choosing to court. It would probably be best if he put it on Lance’s bed. Just in case Hunk, Pidge, or Shiro thought it was for them.

He carefully and quietly made his way to Lance’s room. He had been told by his dar that if he were to leave a courting gift he had to be stealthy. Get in and get out. No lingering. It was possibly because other demons would try to kill him for getting so close… But since Lance was human he wouldn’t have to worry about Lance killing him for going near his bed. Worst he did when he got close to Lance’s bed was getting a safe dropped on his leg.

Keith slowly opened Lance’s bedroom door and looked around. Lance wasn’t there either. Good. Keith was too nervous to actually go into Lance’s room and put it on his bed, so he just threw the candy into his room, hoping it landed on his bed, and quickly ran away back to his nest. He dived under the loose sheets and quickly buried himself under it. 

He did it. He actually did it. Okay, so he liked Lance and he gave Lance a gift. If Lance ate it then that meant he accepted it and would be able to court him more, right? That was how this worked? He really didn’t want to ask Shiro how courting worked. He’d probably tell him something embarrassing like he needed to groom Lance or something.

***

Shiro had been banished from the kitchen for his crimes against batter. He still had no idea why that happened. Cooking was apparently something he couldn’t do. He ended up walking around the house for a bit, sulking. He just wanted to make something nice for Adam when he next saw him. He wanted to impress him with his cooking skills.

He eventually wandered back to the nest and laid down on a comfortable looking lump, but quickly got up when he heard it squeak. He quickly pushed the blankets back found Keith. Slightly squished but still alive.

“... Keith? When did you get back?”

“A few minutes ago. Why does the house smell like burning?”

“I tried cooking.”

“I knew it.”

“Yeah.” Shiro sniffed Keith a few times. “You don’t smell like blood… What did you do when you were out?”

Keith blushed and looked a little nervous. “I… I’m in love with Lance.”

Shiro was surprised to hear Keith admit that. He was proud of him. “That’s fantastic. Are you going to get him a courting gift?”

The younger demon nodded. “Y-yeah… I talked with Allura and Coran about it and I got him some candy hearts.”

“That’s nice. Wait, why were you talking to them?”

“To cure my brain worms.” Said Keith like it was obvious. He death glared Shiro. “You made me think I had brain worms.”

“I told you I was joking. Your fault you believed me.”

Keith huffed and crossed his arms. “Asshole… Anyway I got Lance heart shaped candies and put them on his bed… I hope he likes them… This is how you’re meant to court humans, right?”

Shiro nodded. “Humans like presents. When I visited Adam I would bring him cleaned animal skins and fresh meat for him to eat… So candy is a good start. Want to ask him back into the nest?”

Hearing that made Keith sad. “Yeah… I don’t think he wants to come back… Humans like being alone… Sleeping in nests is weird to them. Made him uncomfortable…”

“You sure?”

“I’m sure…” 

Shiro sighed a little and instinctively curled around Keith to try and comfort him. He was sure Lance would come back if Keith asked, but he wasn’t going to push it any more than he already had at the moment. His littermate just realised he was in love As the older littermate it was his duty to try and help guide him… Even if his own love life was very complicated and more tangled than a broken spider web.

***

When Lance got back from helping Hunk pick out new mixing bowls he went straight to his room to avoid Keith and do some more reading on his empath powers. He flopped onto his back, landing on something hard.

“Ow! The fuck?” Lance rolled over and found a clear plastic bag filled with tiny heart shaped candies. “... What the actual fuck is this?”

This was different. Knowing this house this was probably a trap of some sort and would end up getting him either very sick or very killed. He put it on his bedside table and went back to reading. He’d try and figure out how to see if it was cursed later. Shiro would probably have some idea. No way he’d ask Keith unless he absolutely had to.


	41. Courting gifts

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lance is stressing about dreams and Keith gets some not so helpful advice about courting gifts and how to woo Lance. The boy is trying, but he needs someone like Hunk or Pidge to make sure his attempts can't be misconstrued as something else... Kudos and comment when you can. Enjoy :D

A few days later Krolia came by the house. She came by to check on everyone and to see Keith of course. Keith had made himself scarce for the past few days so Lance didn’t really know where he would be unless he was in his nest. She was sure that he would turn up sooner or later once he caught her scent.

So Lance ended up sitting in the lounge room talking to her about all the things that happened over the past few days. “And then he set that one on fire too.”

Krolia chuckled. “Wow. Really? Shiro is that bad as cooking?”

“Yep. It was amazing.” He drummed his fingers against his leg. “So… You’ve known about this house for a while, right?”

“Yes?”

“Has it done weird things before? Like give candy?”

Krolia looked confused. “The house gave you candy?”

“Yeah.”

“Can I see it?”

He nodded and went to get the candy. It hadn’t left his bedside table since it appeared in his room. He showed it to her. “Is it poisonous?” He asked. “Is it hexed? Will I turn into a frog if I eat it?”

Krolia took out one of the candies, sniffed it and ate it. “... It’s strawberry and vanilla candy. It's fine.”

“Oh thank god…” Now much more relaxed and happy that the house wasn’t going to try and kill him. He happily ate one of the candies and smiled. It tasted really good. He was glad he didn’t throw it away. “So does the house just randomly do this kind of stuff?”

She shrugged. “I am unsure. We didn’t really start coming here frequently till after Lady Beatrice passed away and Marcello took over.”

“Lady Beatrice?”

“Ah, I guess you wouldn’t know…” Said Krolia. She hummed a little as she thought about what to say. "Lady Beatrice was technically a druidess who came over from England after finding out about the hellgate. She had been guarding it for well over three hundred years. She was a lovely woman but she was very no nonsense.” 

“And she knew my uncle?” Asked Lance. “How?”

She shrugged. “I’m guessing she took him as her apprentice or something? I have no idea. I didn’t ask her. I knew of him but I didn’t care at the time.”

Lance nodded. “I see… So Marcello inherited the house from her?”

“Yes. Some of her stuff is probably around here somewhere.” Krolia looked around the room in a small effort to see if she could find anything from the woman that once owned the house. “... There is probably something in the attic. Maybe a picture or something?”

Lance shrugged. “Maybe? Do you want to go and look?”

“Might as well. Doesn’t seem like Keith is going to show up any time soon.”

He nodded and the two of them went up to the attic. Lance had no idea where it was other than up since he had never been in there before. He assumed that there would be lots of things that would trigger his empth powers in there. Old things would definitely do something to him.

They got into the attic and looked around the room. It was interesting to say the least. Several old dresses were on display and covered in dust along with a few interesting nicknacks that Lance found interesting. Things like staff’s and jewelry and creepy looking books. Krolia ignored all of them and instantly went to a box with photos in it. She dug around a little until she found what she was after.

“Lady Beatrice.” She handed Lance an old sepia tone photo of a woman with wild frizzy hair all done up in a messy bun. She wore an old, ratty looking shawl and has sharp facial features. She kind of reminded Lance of an actress from Hollywood’s golden era. She looked like an interesting woman. 

“So… She taught Marcello magic?”

Krolia nodded and pointed to some of the objects on a shelf. “You’ll only be able to pick up the really strong emotions, but you can probably find out more information from holding one of those objects.”

“Okay…” Lance had a look at a few of the things on display. He was instantly drawn to a jar with a pair of human eyes suspended in formaldehyde. The iris’s looked almost golden. An off colour. He nervously picked up the jar and shuddered as he felt something dark pull at his heart.

***

Marcello stormed into the dining room and threw a pair of golden eyes at the old woman who was calmly drinking her evening tea. She made a slightly disgusted sound. “Americans…” He muttered dismissively.

“I’m Cuban and you goddamn know that you white bitch!” He snapped. “It’s dead! I fucking killed it! I got her eyes back! Fuck you!”

Lady Beatrice rolled her eyes and pushed one of the eyes away with a napkin. “I did say you didn’t have to kill it. I said confront your past since it was holding you back. What part of confronting your past translated to rip out the demon’s eyes?”

Marcello glared at her and clenched his fists. He was shaking in anger. “What else could I do? The fucker can take on the form of anyone it kills when it keeps their eyes… When it appeared to me as her… I had to kill that fucking bitch.”

“So you killed Vilis, took those eyes and now… What?” She asked. “You feel better?”

He stood still for a moment before he nodded. “Yeah… I actually do.”

“Good.” Lady Beatrice snapped her fingers and the eyes floated in the air as a jar appeared in under them. It magically filled with a clear liquid and once it was full the eyes fell in. With the flick of her wrist she made the jar float over to Marcello. “Now that the last tie has been severed we can really start your training.”

“Really?”

She nodded and stood up. “You have nothing left to lose. You aren’t a witch, you have no ties to any other magical group, and you don’t appear to be beast blooded. You have to let go of everything to start a new.”

Marcello nodded and looked down at the jar. Her eyes were still staring at him. Unmoving. Unblinking. “... Okay. Let’s do this.”

Lady Beatrice shook her head and waved him off dismissively as she walked towards him. “Tomorrow. It’s late today. I can’t be bothered to teach you anything now.”

Marcello glared at her before he reluctantly gave up. “Fine… Shall I be warming your bed tonight too?” He purred.

She just rolled her eyes and walked pats him. “Fuck me if you want you crazy American sod. You’re still going to have to wait for the sun to rise tomorrow before I even bother teaching you a damned thing.”

He rolled his eyes and followed her grumbling to himself. “Fucking white bitch… Still gonna fuck you.”

“Wouldn’t expect anything else from you. American sod.”

“White whore.”

“Bastard child.”

“I’m gonna hate fuck the white out of your hair.”

***

Lance almost dropped the jar, but quickly put it back on the shelf. His uncle really would fuck anyone. Even his magical mentor apparently. Yeah, I am not touching any more of the stuff in here… I saw much more than I needed to know.”

“Such is the burden of the empath.” Said Krolia. She gave him a sympathetic look. “You’ll eventually be able to tune that kind of stuff out. It took me a few years before I was able to do that. It was really annoying. Especially when I started entering and pulling people into my dreams.”

On hearing that Lance felt a little weird. “Pulling people into your dreams?”

She nodded. “Yes. Empaths can pull people into their dreams or enter the dreams of others. Sometimes it’s a good thing if you need to come up with a plan. You can pull people into one person’s mind and make plans. It’s also good when friends and family have nightmares.” She smiled a little and chuckled. “When Keith was a kit and had nightmares I’d pull him into my dreams and play with him until he woke up. He wouldn’t remember that now since he was so young, but we had fun. I got to spend twice the time with him.”

“That’s… nice…” Lance was fighting an internal battle now. Did he pull Keith into his wet dream or did he accidentally stumble into Keith’s? Then again it could be nothing and he was just overthinking things again. He really hoped he was otherthinking again. “H-how can you tell if you’ve pulled someone into your dream or if you’ve gone into theirs?”

She shrugged. “Difficult to know. Especially at the start. It will be fine. Why?”

“... No reason.” No way he was going to say that he had a sex dream with her son.

Suddenly the attic door opened up and Keith looked in. “Sar?”

Krolia smiled at him. “Hey Keith. How are you today?”

“I’m fine.” He walked into the room, quickly glancing over at Lance as he did so. “... What are you doing here?”

“Just checking on all of you. I also wanted to spend some time with you.”

“Oh. Okay.” As he walked over to her he looked over at Lance again and paused. “What’s in your pocket?”

“Huh?” Lance put his hand in his pocket and took out the bag of candy. He shoved them in his pocket before he came here. “Oh yeah. Found a bag of candy on my bed the other day.” He took a few out and handed them to Keith. “I know you like sugar. So you might like to try this? It’s really good.” 

“...” Keith went bright red and quickly took the offered candy. “Thanks.”

“No problem? You guys have fun doing family stuff. I’m just gonna go and do… human things… Yeah… Bye.” He quickly left the room. In all honestly Lance was still a little weird about being around Keith. Now he had to worry about accidentally wandering into other people’s dreams or having them wander into his. He had to figure out a way to tell the difference between the two… Also did that mean he had a sex dream about Keith or did Keith have a sex dream about Lance?

***

When Lance was gone Keith stared down at the candy in his hands. Lance gave him some of the candy he had given him. He was sharing his gift because he liked sweet things. This was a sign that Lance liked him, right? Lance had accepted his gift? Should he get him more candy? Something more extravagant? Something better? What would he need to get? Should he get him more heart candy? Fancier heart candy?

“You okay there Keith?” Asked Krolia. “You seem to be thinking really hard there.”

Keith shrugged and ate some of the candy. It was pretty good. “Just thinking… About courting…”

“Courting?” Her eyes went wide in surprise. “You gave Lance the candy didn’t you? You’re attempting to court him?”

Keith didn’t think he could go more red even if he tried. “Y-yeah. I’ve recently realised that I developed feelings for him and I want to… I want to court him… a-and Lance is eating my gift so he’s accepted it. Right? That means he’ll let me continue?”

Krolia smiled kindly at him and gave him a hug. “Aw, you’re too adorable sometimes Keith. Yes you should continue courting him, but try to let him know that you are interested in him. He thought the house was trying to poison him.”

“Oh…” Keith didn’t think of that. He didn’t think that Lance would think it was something dangerous. This was bad. He didn’t like that at all. Maybe he shouldn’t have gotten him food to start with? Maybe a cool looking rock would have been better?

Krolia sighed a little and gently guided him out of the attic. “It’s okay dear. You didn’t do anything wrong. Just let him know it’s you. He should be able to tell you like him a little anyway. He is an empath after all.”

Hearing that made Keith freeze. She was right. Lance was an empath and he would know all about his own feelings towards him. He could tell Shiro liked Adam. What if he didn’t like him and was just trying to think of a way to let him down easy? But he was an ampath… could it be possible that Lance was confusing Keith’s feelings for his own? Then that would mean that Lance liked Keith but he only liked Keith because Keith likes Lance and Lance thought that Keith’s emotions were his own… And Keith felt like he just gave himself a brain hemorrhage.

“Keith? Are you okay?” Asked Krolia in a concerned tone.

“Lance isn’t really in control of his powers…” He said quietly. “Is it possible that Lance is like… He’s thinking my feelings are his feelings?”

The older woman thought for a moment. “I guess it is possible… Empath powers are really weird when they first awaken before they can be controlled.” 

“... Should I keep trying to court him?” He asked quietly. “If he doesn’t actually like me I don’t want to keep trying to court him.” Keith sighed in frustration. “Things would be so much easier if he was a demon… If Lance was a demon and he didn’t like me he’d try and have a go at me. Bite my neck. Stab me. Something to make it clear he doesn’t like me…”

His mother listened to his frustrations and nodded along. “I see… Well, this is kind of difficult, but here is the thing with humans in general, you need to go slow. Go slow with Lance and don’t try to rush it. Empaths can get overwhelmed by rushed emotions. Keep giving him courting gifts… Maybe write some notes? You any good at poetry?”

Keith groaned in annoyance. “I don’t think Infernal translates very well into all this human bullshit language.”

She shrugged. “Couldn’t hurt? Your dar wrote me a poem in Infernal.”

“What was it?”

_“Your hair is dark like cremated ashes._  
_Lips read like fresh blood_  
_Your glare can kill a thousand enemies_  
_I would slaughter my father to see you smile”_

“... A true romantic.” And he meant it. That actually sounded like an actual demon love poem.

Krolia chuckled. “He had a way with words. It rhymed better in Infernal… Lots of humans do enjoy personal gifts. Maybe Lance would enjoy a gift you make by yourself? A written note would be a good start before you start on your own little craft projects… Also, most humans will not like gifts made from bones or dead things unless it’s food.”

“Right… Okay… I think I can do that…” Keith hadn’t written anything in infernal in a long time. The Infernal alphabet could be very complicated if he was writing in high Infernal or common Infernal. After some consideration he decided he’s write in high infernal. It was more complex but he wanted to come off as smart and sophisticated. Lance did want to be a teacher so he would like a mate that was smart, right?

***

Later that evening when Lance went back to his room he found a note on his pillow. He picked it up and was immediately shocked by the terrible handwriting. It was worse than a dyslexic three year old with a crayon. It took Lance a little while to decipher what it actually said, but he eventually did. It was not what he expected to read.

_Your eyes cold like a corpse_  
_I want to hand feed you the entrails of your enemies_  
_I will keep you captive and stop you from leaving me_  
_You would look beautiful covered in rubies made of fresh blood_

_Watching you._  
_Keith._

“... What the actual fuck Keith?” Apparently Keith wanted to murder him.


	42. Misunderstandings

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The main reason I was able to hammer out the last three chapters was because I had a very, very clear idea of what I wanted to happen. So it might be a little while before I post another chapter, it being December and all. Gotta get the Xmas shopping in my dudes. Kudos and comment when you can. Enjoy :D

“I think I messed up.” Keith confessed to Shiro. The Manticore had been happily sunning himself in the greenhouse while using a speech to text app Pidge put on his phone so he could text Adam hen Keith walked in. He just walked over to Shiro, lied against his side, and rested his head against his chest. He didn’t say a word for a few minutes while Shiro talked to Adam.

“How did you mess up?” Asked Shiro.

“You know how this morning when Lance saw me in the kitchen with you he immediately turned and walked straight out without saying a word?”

“Oh yeah, I was actually wondering about that...” That was weird, but Shiro had chalked that up to Lance being a strange guy. “What did you do?”

“I wrote him a poem as a courting gift.” Said Keith. That surprised Shiro, but he was proud of Keith. Poems were seen as some of the best courting gifts. With some demons a poem could mean the difference between a successful courting or generations of bloodshed. And since Lance had been teaching Keith to read and write English he probably write a very cute, simple poem for him. “I wrote it in Infernal…”

“... You did what now?” While Infernal was their language it was no secret that many of their words could have both positive and negative meanings depending on what words were used first and after. It was much easier spoken where pitch and tone played a huge part in it too. 

“I wrote it in high Infernal...” 

“Keith…” Common infernal was hard enough to read, but high infernal could get completely butchered if one wasn’t used to reading it. If someone read something as simple as the word blue in high Infernal it could easily been translated to; water, ice, fish scale, or sea serpent.

“I wanted to sound smart… I think Lance likes smart people...”

“How much high Infernal has Lance read before? What did you write?”

Keith shrugged. “Short poem. Nothing crazy…”

“Keith?”

_“Your eyes are like clear blue crystals_  
_I will steal from your enemies to give to you_  
_I will keep you safe_  
_You would look beautiful in the scales of a red dragon.”_

Shiro nodded along to his littermate’s words. “And you don’t think writing any of that in high Infernal could have been mistranslated in anyway?”

“I don’t see how. I was very clear.” Said Keith. “... Do you think I came on too strong? Are red dragons seen as something really important to humans and I just insulted him? Oh fuck… I messed up badly didn’t I?”

Shiro shrugged. “Not sure. Humans seem to assume dragons are myths, like angels and demons… I still think it could have been mistranslated when you wrote it down. Can’t the phrase clear blue crystals be translated to dead eyes, or corpse eyes if you don’t do the dot thing? And can’t red dragon scales read as fresh blood if there isn’t that little hyphen thing? It has been a while since you wrote in high Infernal. Maybe you forgot some of the grammar?”

The colour slowly drained from Keith’s face as he stared wide eyed at the ground. It seemed like Shiro hit the nail on the head with that. In Keith’s attempts to come off as smart he came off as an idiot. A violent idiot, but still an idiot.

“Did I just blow my chance at courting Lance?”

“Well he hasn’t tried to send you back to hell yet, so maybe he’s practicing caution?” Suggested Shiro. “Maybe he thinks there’s a little misunderstanding happening and just trying to figure out how to bring it up?”

“Maybe… Shit, I really thought writing in high Infernal would impress him… How do I fix this?”

“Talk to him about your feelings?”

“I’ll talk to Lance about my feelings when you tell Adam you’re a Manticore and fucked his previous incarnation.”

“...” Shiro whacked Keith hard with his tail.

***

Lance had taken to hiding in Hunk’s room while he tried to figure out what the fuck was going on with Keith. Had he upset him somehow? What did he do? Did he threaten him? Upset him? How? Why? What had gotten Keith so angry at him? He’d taken off one of Hunk’s bed and was hiding in the corner.

Hunk had taken a break from doing the theory part of his latest assignment and was trying to make Lance feel a little better between trying to write a paper on this history of French pastries. “I’m sure it was a misunderstanding.” 

“He literally wants to cover me in blood Hunk.” Said Lance. “Me. In blood. I don’t want to be covered in blood!”

“Maybe it was a bad translation?”

“Okay, two ways this can go.” Said Lance. “Either it was a mistake and Keith meant something else, or it is accurate and Keith wants me dead. For the love of all things holy if he’s pissed at me what will he do when I confront him?”

The door opened and Pidge walked in eating some chips. “Sup noobs? What’s happening?”

“Lance thinks Keith is trying to murder him.” Said Hunk.

“He left a warning note on my bed.” Said Lance. “Like a fucking serial killer.”

She looked a little confused and sat on Hunk’s bed near Lance. “Creepy. Well it could be worse.”

“How Pidge? How could it be worse?” Asked Lance.

She shrugged. “Keith could have a hard on for you and is doing some kind of mating ritual. Imagine if he was like a bird of paradise and tried to do some weird dance?”

“Or a bowerbird.” Said Hunk. “If he was like that he’d be decorating his nest with blue.”

Pidge chuckled and put on her best monotone voice. “Lemme smash.”

“No, Ron.” Said Hunk in an equally monotone voice. “Go find Becky.”

“You want sum fuk?”

“No Ron, I don’t want sum Fuk.”

“I got you blue.” Pidge held up her book which happened to have a blue cover. “You want sum tail?”

“Ron. Your tail is small.”

Pidge threw herself back dramatically across the bed. “What has my life come to…”

Lance rolled his eyes and threw a star shaped pillow at her. “Really you two? Have many times have you watched that?”

Pidge shrugged. “A few… Roses are red. Money is cash. I got you a stick. Please lemme smash.”

Hunk chuckled a little. “Okay, but seriously, Lance thinks Keith is out to hurt him.”

“We sure this isn’t some translation thing?” Asked Pidge. “Like, he is a demon after all. Demons are fucked up. Even if what he wrote to you is a literal translation it probably sounded like super normal or maybe even romantic to a demon?”

“Why are we assuming Keith wants to smash me?” Asked Lance. “He wants to kill me.”

“You can’t assume.” Said Pidge. “He totally wants to smash.”

“Does not.”

“Does too.”

“Does not times a million.”

“Totally does. Use your empth powers to figure out he likes you.”

“He doesn’t like me like that!” Whined Lance. “Seriously, if he has any feelings towards me it’s pissed off. He’s usually pissed off and frustrated when I’m around him anyway.”

“That’s rough.” Said Hunk. “Especially since you kind of like him anyway.”

Pidge suddenly sat up. “Wait, you actually like Keith?”

Lance went bright red and death glared Hunk. “Oops? Sorry?”

Pidge grinned and rubbed her little gremlin hands together. “Well this is a development. One hell of a development. I like it. Time to look up demon mating rituals.”

Lance felt like he was going to die. “For fuck’s sake Pidge. Keith doesn’t like me. He’d rather beat the shit out of me than love me.”

She shrugged. “Hey you never know. Maybe leaving threatening notes is a part of how sin-eater’s date? They write something threatening and it’s like meant to show you how strong they are?”

“I think he’s pissed I decided to sleep in my own bed again instead of their nest…” Muttered Lance. Keith was so going to bite his face off at some point.

Pidge rolled her eyes. “Just look up demon mating rituals. Who knows? Maybe Keith is like a dog and starting to rut or something? Shiro would probably know if that was the case.” She frowned a little as she thought. “Do you guys think it’s humane to neuter a demon?”

“...” Lance pulled the blanket over his head. This was bullshit. He hated this. Keith didn’t like him. He was mad he left the nest. He was angry at him and leaving him threatening things to make him uneasy… But if this was some weird, messed up demon heat thing he was going to ask Shiro to keep Keith on a leash or something to keep him from doing something stupid. He wasn’t sure how demon sex worked but it didn’t seem like they would be the kind of creatures that would take no for an answer.

He looked back out from under the blankets just in time to see Pidge and Hunk talking a lot about the possible hoarding habits of demons.

“Bones.” Said Pidge. “Totally would decorate the whole place with bones.”

“But have you seen their nest?” Asked Hunk. “It’s very soft. They seem to both like pillows and blankets. Do you think Keith will hoard blankets?”

“Probably start stealing Lance’s clothes.” Said Pidge. “He’ll go after his shirt’s first, but he’ll eventually move onto other things like his underwear and socks. He did wear that one pair of undies for a week once.”

“They were my last pair and our washing machine broke!” Snapped Lance. “And that was a year ago!”

“Still disgusting you crusty crotch heathen!”

Lance groaned loudly and hid under the blankets again. This sucked. Keith was so going to go all Ed Gein on his ass and skin him. But then again Keith ate people so he might just pull a Jeffrey Dahmer. Either way he was pretty sure Keith was going to straight up murder him.

***

So candy kind of worked, but poetry didn’t. Keith didn’t really know where to go now besides getting more candy for him. Candy was good. Humans liked candy. Maybe he should just cut out the middleman and just get put a bag of sugar on Lance’s bed? That would be a good idea, right? Keith sat on the banister around the stairs as he thought about this. Humans were a strange and fickle creature.

“Hey there Keith…” Said Hunk as he approached him.

He looked over at the and nodded. “Hey. What’s up?”

“... Um, can I ask you a question? It’s about Lance.”

“Oh?” Keith was instantly interested. “What about him? Is he okay? Did he say something?”

“You kind of left him a threatening note the other day.” Said Hunk. “Did he do something to upset you? He was kind of going on about leaving your nest and stuff…”

“What?” Now Keith was a little confused. “Wait, yeah I am a little upset he left the nest but I knew it wasn’t going to last forever… And I didn’t threaten him. I’m trying to court him… Should have stuck with common Infernal and not high Infernal…”

Hunk seemed surprised. “Wait, you’re trying to court him? Like, you like him? Like, you like-like him?”

Keith continued to be confused by Hunk’s ramblings and repeating of the word like. “I have no idea what you’re on about but I like Lance and I am trying to court him because I want him to be my mate or the human equivalent. Whatever that is. So I am trying to court him.”

Hunk was still surprised but nodded along as he tried to follow along. “Okay. I get that you like Lance, but you tried to get him to like you by threatening him?”

“It wasn’t-” Keith groaned in annoyance. “I didn’t threaten him. I was trying to write him a poem in high Infernal. It’s written a little differently to common Infernal. It’s more… It looks and sounds more sophisticated and smart. Lance was trying to be a teacher before I got summoned here so I thought that he would like it if I sounded smarter.. It apparently didn’t translate very well.”

“Yeah… I think your plan kind of backfored there buddy.” Said Hunk. “Lance kind of thinks you want him dead… He was talking about Ed Gein and Jeffrey Dahmer…”

“Who?”

“Human serial killers.”

“Oh…” Keith sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. “You’re Lance’s best friend. Am I wasting my time? Like, I don’t really understand how humans work because I’m a demon and all but I don’t really know if I have a chance with Lance.”

“Well… Lance is bisexual so you do have a chance with him.”

“What’s bisexual?”

“Someone that likes men and women.” Said Hunk. “... Do demons not have that?”

Keith shrugged. “A hole is a hole and a dick is a dick. Most demons only care if you have a womb if they want kits or are like an animal and live off of instinct and go through breeding cycles and stuff… I guess that would mean all demons are bisexual?”

“So you’re bi too?”

“Never really thought about it before.” Said Keith. “Didn’t think it mattered… I’ve only been attracted to Lance though so I don’t know… What would that make me?”

Hunk shrugged. “Maybe gay? Are you interested in having kits?”

“Not really.”

“Okay, so maybe you’re gay? I don’t know. I’m no expert on demon sexualities man. Hell I’m not even sure I’m completely straight. Oh, that’s um a boy that likes a girl or a girl that likes a boy.” Said Hunk. “A-anyway. I think we’re getting off track. I think you have a shot with Lance, but um… no more threatening demon poems.”

Keith nodded along. He didn’t really understand human sexualities that much, but he was happy enough to know that he was at least physically appealing to Lance. “So how do I court Lance? What are good human courting gifts? I already gave candy and the poem.”

“Wait, the candy was you?” 

“Yeah?”

“Lance thought the house was trying to kill him.”

Keith sighed sadly. “Yeah, I know. My sar told me that’s what Lance thought… She also said I needed to be more direct and make him know that I’m giving him courting gifts and it’s not the house trying to kill him.”

“Yeah…” Hunk kind of nervously pressed his fingertips together. “Um… So… Look, I don’t really know what to say. Gifts are nice and stuff, but if you really want to court Lance you need to talk to him and-”

Keith quickly put his hand up. “Stop right there. Talking isn’t what Sin-eater’s do. We leave courting gifts. Lots of courting gifts. My dar left my sar hundreds of gifts before they got together. Which is actually unusual for us. We leave thousands of gifts for the people we are courting. We spend decades courting potential mates. While we are giving gifts we will relentlessly follow our mates at a distance before we really make our feelings known. By then the demon we’re courting will either accept us or will violently reject us.”

Hunk looked at Keith like he was a complete moron. “You know normal humans don’t have the same life expectancy as your sar, right? If you want to date Lance you’re going to have to speed things up.”

“By how much?”

“Maybe a month or two?”

Keith was shocked. Two months? Two months? That was so short. How could humans get together so quickly? He could understand two humans getting together for a one night stand once in a while. Demons weren’t strangers to the concept of fuck buddies and hookups. But just two months? How could they figure out what they wanted out of a mate if they did that? There wasn’t enough time to observe the one they were courting. It was insane.

Hunk awkwardly patted his back. “Look. I get you are a demon and have your demon ways, but us lowly humans need to be told these things. Like, I don’t know if you guys use pheromones and stuff to signal your intentions, but we really need some form of verbal communication.”

“... So I can’t leave Lance gifts anymore?”

“Gifts are okay, but talking is more important.” Said Hunk. “Too many gifts and it will seem like you’re trying to bribe him.”

Keith nodded as he tried to think this through. He needed to speed up his courting of Lance and he needed to do it with good gifts that Lance would really like. He couldn’t give him small gifts. They needed to be really good and elaborate things that Lance really wanted. But he also needed to talk to Lance so he wouldn’t think he was trying to kill him.

“Okay… I can do that… Is there a gift I can give Lance so he doesn’t feel threatened by me?”

“Words.” Said Hunk. “Use your words. Talk to him.”

“Is there a way I can do it without words?”

“No.”

“Fuck.” Keith was not going to like this.


	43. Grooming

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well it turns out I can type up a storm when inspiration and insomnia hits, and is combined with the ever wonderful motherfucking smoke coming down from the fucking mountains. (fyi talking about the bushfires in Australia at the moment. I'm safe but like, holy shit this is the worst. My house is safe but going outside is difficult, and I don't even have asthma) Anyway, kudos and comment when you can. Enjoy :D

Lance had been successfully ignoring and avoid Keith for about a week until he inevitably ran into the demon boy. He just happened to see him in the hallway and Keith saw him. Lance was kind of worried that Keith was going to run up to him and maybe attack him. However, Lance didn’t sense anything like aggression coming from him when he got close.

“Can we talk?” Asked Keith.

“Um… Sure…” Said Lance nervously. 

Keith just nodded and stood there in front of Lance in silence. While Lance did appreciate being able to just stare at the cute demon boy with his cute little pout and the way he shifted his weight from foot to foot, and his stupid mullet… Lance felt kind of weird standing around in silence.

“Keith? Buddy? You gonna say something?”

“Don’t rush me.” Snapped Keith. “I’m thinking.”

“Okay… Maybe we should try again when you’re done thinking?” Lance went to leave but Keith quickly grabbed his arm.

“Wait! Just give me a moment… Please…” Said Keith quietly. “I just… I don’t want to mess this up again.”

“Okay…” Lance was kind of worried about this now. What was Keith going to say? What was he going to do?

“Look… I messed up my note.” Said Keith quietly. “You um… You were impressed by how I was writing human words and shit so I thought you’d think I was smart if I wrote you something in high Infernal… But it came out wrong... And now you’re avoiding me…”

Lance was a little surprised to hear that. “Oh…”

“Yeah… Sorry. I don’t want to kill you. I wanted to try and impress you.”

Lance nodded a little as Keith explained himself. He was relieved that Keith didn’t hurt him, and kind of thought it was cute that Keith was trying to sound smart for him. Even if it was kind of messed up how he went about it. If Keith was trying to make him think he was smart he royally failed. He was pretty sure that maybe Hunk or Pidge talked to either of Shiro or Keith about what was going on directly. Why did he like this demonic idiot so much?

“Okay.”

“... Okay?”

“Okay. I forgive you for giving me a weird serial killer note. Try not writing scary notes to try and impress me from now on. Okay? Like, it’s cool that you know how to read and write in Infernal and stuff, but I think my ring isn’t translating very well.”

Keith smiled nervously. “Maybe… Can you keep teaching me how to read and write in English? It would be nice to maybe write stuff in English.”

Hearing that made Lance smile. “Sure. Want to have a go at spelling names and stuff?”

Keith seemed surprised and quickly nodded. “Yes. How do I spell your name?”

“We’ll figure this out after we get some writing stuff.” Said Lance. Keith nodded and the two of them walked down to the dining room. Lance got some paper and pens, passing one to Keith. “Okay names. Let’s start with your first.”

Keith pouted but quickly agreed. “... Fine. How do I spell Keith?”

“K-E-I-T-H.” Spelled Lance as he wrote it down in big block letters. “You remember what those letters stand for?”

“Killing, Eviscerate, Intestines, Torn, and Hell.”

“... Why are you like this?”

“Because I am a demon?” Keith slowly wrote his name with the pen. It was a little shaky, but he did it. “Done.” 

“Nice. Let’s go ahead and spell everyone’s names.” It took the two of them about half an hour but Keith had managed to scrawl out everyone’s name in crude block letters. It was endearing and almost made Lance completely forget that Keith had written such a creepy and fucked up note. Well, now that Keith totally wasn’t trying to hurt him he could safely go back to shamelessly watching his demon crush.

Keith always looked too cute when he concentrating. He wanted to reach other and run his fingers through Keith’s stupid hair again. He wanted to braid it. He could do it really well too and he bet Keith would look super cute. Eventually Keith put the pen down after he’d written down everyone’s name down at least five times with varying degrees of success. He looked proud of himself for being able to spell five and hour letter words.

“Hey, you did awesome there man.” Said Lance as he looked over the words. “Nice. Might start on sentences soon.”

“Cool.” Keith tapped his pen against the table a few times as he stared at Lance. “So…”

“Yeah?”

“Are things really good between us? Like before I fucked up?”

“Yeah. Of course. It was an honest mistake, right?”

“Right… Do you...”

“Yeah?”

“... Never mind.”

“No, tell me.” Lance was always curious as to what Keith had to say. He always said something interesting that would make Lance chuckle.

Keith was just staring down at the paper and tapping his pen on said paper. He looked kind of nervous. Was this because he was still upset about scaring him? He wasn’t sure. He still looked cute.

“I-I want to groom you...”

“...”

“...”

“Huh?”

Keith went bright red. “I-I want to groom you. L-like when Shiro and I groom each other… Forget it. Dumb idea.” He slumped down on the table and tried to hide his face behind his arms in an effort to hide his embarrassment.

“No, it’s not a dumb idea.” Said Lance quickly. “If you want to you can. Have no idea what you’re going to do but you can if you like?”

Keith glanced up at him with one eye and stared at him. Like he was trying to figure out if Lance was lying or not. After a few seconds he grunted and stood up. Lance tried to stand up, but Keith quickly put his hand on Lance’s shoulder and kept him in the chair.

“Stay. You don’t have a lot of hair so it won’t take too long.”

“Do you need a comb?”

“Why do I need a comb? I have claws.” He slowed Lance his hand and tensed his fingers just enough for his nails to extend slightly. Like cats claws. “See?”

“Oh… Okay…” Lance was suddenly uneasy about this.

Keith either didn’t notice or ignored him and started to gently drag his fingers across Lance’s scalp. After the initial surprise of the new sensation Lance relaxed a little. It actually felt kind of nice. It left kind of nice tingling sensation down his spine. Lance sighed contently and closed his eyes. It felt good. So this was what demon grooming was like. He wondered if this was how Shiro groomed Keith since he usually stayed in his manticore form. Either he changed into his human form or he licked him like a cat grooming their kittens. Either one was kind of sweet.

After a while Keith stopped and shoved his hands into his pants. “So… That’s what grooming is.”

Lance hummed happily and looked up at him. Keith was still blushing. “That was nice. Want me to brush your hair mullet?”

“... You want to groom me?”

“Yeah.”

“... You don’t have to.”

Lance waved him off. “No way man. It’s cool. Watch this. Brush!” Lance held his hand out for a few seconds before he gave up.

“What were you doing?”

“... Apparently being an idiot.” Muttered Lance.

“What else is new?”

“Hey! I’m trying here! I’m-” Before Lance could finish talking Keith quickly lunged forward at him. So close their cheeks were actually pressed together. Lance’s heart was hammering in his chest. “Keith?”

The demon slowly pulled back and was holding a brush in one hand. “This almost lodged itself into your skull.”

Lance blinked and took the brush from Keith. “... Well it did what I wanted to do… Kind of.”

“Yep. Now you can get a concussion with books and brushes.” Said Keith. “Does this mean your magic is getting better or is your bond with the house getting stronger?”

Lance shrugged. “Maybe both? Anyway, you sit now. My turn to groom you.”

Keith seemed a little hesitant but did as he was told. Lance got up and started to brush Keith’s hair. It took a little while for Keith to relax, but when he did Lance could easily tell. All the tension left Keith’s body and his neck relaxed to the point where his neck went all floppy and he could easily move Keith’s head around like it was nothing.

When he was done, Lance put the brush down and lazily rested his forearms against Keith’s shoulders. It took a few moments before Keith pulled himself out of his relaxed state. “So… um…”

“Yeah?”

“I um… We…”

Lance smiled a little. “Yes Keith we’re still friends and I know you guys don’t groom just anyone… And I know you probably just groomed me because you felt bad about the whole… unintentionally threatening to kill me thing. I appreciate it. We’re still friends. Okay?”

Keith was quiet for a moment before he nodded. “Yeah… Friends. Friends is good.”

***

After spending most of his day sunning himself and talking to Adam, Shiro walked back to the nest to find Keith hiding back in the nest all bundled up under all the blankets while hugging that weird red lion toy from the theme park. He seemed to be in deep thought and distracted. His littermate didn’t even notice him walk in or sit by him.

Seeing as how he wasn’t paying attention to him, Shiro shuffled over to him and rested his chin on Keith’s body. “... What are you thinking about?” He asked the smaller demon.

“Thinking about Lance…”

“Going to keep courting him?”

“He let me groom him today.”

“Oh? That’s wonderful.” Shiro was excited for Keith. He didn’t groom anyone but him or his dar before. This was a huge deal for him.

“Yeah… and I let him groom me.”

“... No. You joking? Seriously? You let someone who wasn’t me groom you?” Asked Shiro in shock. “Wow… That’s… You let him touch your hair? That’s… Wow… That’s such a huge deal…”

“I know.” Muttered Keith. He buried his face into the toy for a few seconds and sighed loudly. “... Hunk said I need to speed up my courting since human lives are short and I can’t spend decades courting Lance… I… So I just skipped to grooming… I was going to tell him that I liked him but I messed up… Lance was happy that we are on friendly terms again… I couldn’t just say I want to court him or be his mate when he just said he wanted to be my friend… That’s just rude… and I’m happy to be friends with Lance anyway. Being friends as just as good…”

“But you want more?”

“Of course I want more.” Grumbled Keith. “Would you be happy with just being friends with Adam?”

“... Fair point.” Shiro curled around Kieth in an attempt to try and comfort him a little. “Still, I think Adam’s happiness is more important than mine. I always have. I think keeping your mate happy and safe is more important than what we want… And if the person you love really loves you back they will feel the same way about you.”

“You think so?”

“Yeah… Now are you going to confess to Lance that you’re trying to court him or will you continue to court in secret?”

“Court in secret. Words are too hard.”

Shiro sighed dramatically and rolled onto his back. “Keeeeeeeeith.”

“What? It’s a good idea!”

“How is this a good idea?!”

“Because it’s my idea!”

“You have the worst ideas!”

“I will not take this from someone that isn’t wearing pants!”

“I’m a Manticore! I don’t have to wear pants!” Pointed out Shiro.

“Fuck you!”

Shiro whacked him with his paw. “You watch your filthy fucking mouth. Don’t be a fucking shit talker.”

“FUCKING HYPOCRITE!”

“GRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!”

“HISSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!” Keith jumped at Shiro and tugged at the fur on the older demon’s chest. It wasn’t really effective. Keith wasn’t trying. It was more like play fighting than anything. Shiro just huffed and repeatedly bopped Keith’s back till he gave up and got off him. “... You’re still an asshole.”

Shiro rolled his eyes. “And you’re still stupid. What’s so difficult about talking about your feelings with him?”

“... I don’t want Lance to reject me.” Said Keith quietly as he sat by Shiro. “I’m some weird half demon thing. Yeah, I identify as a demon and all but I… I’m weaker than a normal sin-eater. Stronger than a human and I just… Look, I’m weird and Lance is pretty much normal… And I know my courting is dumb and fruitless since he just wants to be friends…”

“Are you overthinking things?”

“... I don’t really know anymore. But friends is good. I’m good with friends with Lance.” Said Keith. “Besides, when Lance is done with us we’re going to get kicked back to hell… Once he’s figured it out… He never wanted to have demons here in the first place…”

“I know.” Shiro curled around him tighter. “Just be nice to him and like, do things with him.”

“Like what?” Asked Keith. “I have no idea what humans like…”

“... Adam likes going on walks? There are some nice parks around here. Go for a walk with Lance. He’ll like it.”

“You sure?”

Shiro shrugged. “Not a clue, but since you’re acting dumb I have to be the brains for the both of us. Trust me it’s not as fun as it sounds.”

Keith grumbled and lightly punched Shiro’s shoulder. He could take Lance out to go for a walk in a park. The people on TV were always going on about how more people needed to go outside and do things. He could do that with Lance. Simple enough. Nothing could go wrong. Right?


	44. Walk in the park

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dumb and dumber go for a walk. Shit happens and then more shit happens. You all know the drill by now. Kudos and comment when you can. Enjoy :D

“Walk.”

Lance looked up from the ham sandwich he was currently eating. It was the middle of the afternoon and Lance just wanted a sandwich. He didn’t expect Keith to suddenly walk up behind him and tell him to walk. He took a step to the side in case Keith wanted to get something from the cupboard he was standing in front of.

He gestured for Keith to go and search the cupboard. The demon looked confused. “Huh?”

“I moved.” Said Lance. “You want at it?”

Keith still looked confused. “No?”

“No? Then what do you want?”

Keith’s shoulders slumped a little. “I wanted to go for a walk with you.” He said quietly. “Shiro said there are parks and stuff nearby but I don’t know where any of them are and Shiro’s busy texting Adam again.”

“... So you want to go with me?”

“Well Pidge and Hunk aren’t here are they?” Snapped Keith. “You don’t want to go with me?”

“Just let me finish what I’m eating and put on some shoes.”

“... Okay.” Keith quickly left the room leaving Lance confused. Keith was one strange demon. Then again he didn’t know many demons so Keith was probably very normal and he was the strange one to him.

Still, Lance finished eating, put on some shoes and the two of them ended up walking a few streets over to the local nature reserve. There were a few people walking around with their dogs and Lance swore that everyone of those dogs did a double take when they saw Keith. To be fair Keith gave every dog the stink eye when they looked at him. Maybe animals were just able to tell that Keith wasn’t human?

Lance just hoped one of the dogs didn’t take Keith on. If any of the dogs did he was pretty sure it was going to be one of the ratty looking chihuahuas in the neon tracksuits that matched their owners. Lance strongly believed that they were pure anger in dog form.

“... Are you not a dog person?” Lance asked.

Keith shrugged. “I like animals, but most domesticated animals have loyalty to their owners. I’m more threatening than a human so they are cautious… But if they don’t bother me I won’t bother them. That’s usually how things go.”

“Live and let live?”

“Yeah. I don’t go after things that I can’t eat unless they attack me first. Then fuck them. I’m killing them.”

“Fair enough I guess?”

The two of them walked along the path through the trees. There were a few people here and there walking around but they quickly thinned out. It was starting to get a little late after all. Lance thought it was kind of nice and he hoped that Keith did too.

They walked in silence for a bit before Keith’s stomach started to growl. Keith blushed a little in embarrassment. Which just made Lance chuckle. “Maybe you should have eaten before we left?”

“Wouldn’t help.”

“Why?”

“I want to eat humans.”

“... Yeah, our stock on people is kind of low. Did you want to try and bring me along on another of your hunting trips?”

“What? No!” Said Keith quickly. “I just, I wanted to go out for a walk with you. Shiro said humans like going on walks.”

“... Like a dog?”

“Yes! No… I… I didn’t mean it like that…” Muttered the demon. He sighed and slumped forward slightly. “I’m not good at this am I?”

“Yeah, you aren’t good with words.” Lance patted Keith’s back. He could feel the embarrassment and anxiety rolling off Keith. He wasn’t too sure if this was his empath powers working of just him knowing how to read people.

“... I’m really not good with human things, you know?”

“Well you are a demon. Pretty sure if I was in hell I’d have broken like, so many rules by now.”

“Honestly you would be dead by now.”

“Figured.”

“Yeah…” Keith’s stomach growled again.

“... Is it painful?” Asked Lance. “Not being able to eat humans?”

“Not really. It’s more like a craving.” Admitted Keith. “I haven’t eaten anyone for months. Meat is good but I need humans… Sorry. I know that is kind of really gross and you don’t want to hear about it.”

Lance shrugged. “Look, I’m not happy about you killing people, but you okay go after the scum of the earth, so it’s not that bad. You know? Still kind of… I’m not a huge fan of the whole murder thing, you know?”

“... Didn’t you technically murder a witch in the Daibazaal coven when they tried to swarm the place with a bunch of zombie things?”

“... You eat people.”

“You still killed someone.”

Lance pouted a little and shoved his hands into his pockets. “Yeah, yeah. I know. I’m the asshole here.”

“What? No I…” Keith sighed and looked around. “... I haven’t been in an area like this with so many trees in centuries…”

“Really?”

“Yeah...” Keith kept looking around the trees. “I just… The last time I was in a place like this it… It makes me uneasy.”

“... If you’re uneasy then why did you bring me here?”

“Because humans like walking out around trees?”

“Trees are good, but you seem nervous. What’s up?”

“... The last time I was around so many trees everything was on fire… I can almost smell the smoke.”

“Possibly because there is a picnic area around here.” Said Lance. “Someone probably started a barbeque.”

“... Yeah, not a huge fan of fire and smoke.”

“Does it make you remember your dar?”

“Yeah… I don’t want to remember him.” Said Keith. “Not like that… I want to remember him during the happy times. Back when I was just a kit… Just running around and eating bugs.”

“More glow worms?”

“Nah. Just random bugs I found.”

Lance nodded and steered them down a walking path that would lead them away from the smell of smoke. It seemed to calm Keith down a little. Lance tried to lighten the mood a little. “So, how long would it be until I died if I walked through a forest in hell?”

“Depends.”

“On what?”

“What finds you first.” Said Keith. “Some things are parasitic and would keep you alive for years while they slowly eat you alive. Other things would just straight up kill you. Some ways more disturbing than others.”

“... So five seconds?”

“That’s being generous.”

Lance pouted and lightly hit Keith’s arm. “Rude.”

Keith shrugged but there was a slight tug at the corner of the demon’s lips that made Lance smile back at him. Though he did feel kind of bummed that Keith was smiling about his imminent death.

After a while Keith seemed to think they were far enough away from other people and started climbing trees. He let his claws out, ripping into bark and happily swinging from tree to tree. He seemed a lot happier now and at ease. The smell of smoke was probably that made Keith uncomfortable. It made Lance smile as he imagined Keith as a kit happily climbing around the trees in Hell with ease. 

Now that Lance thought about it Keith did seem very at home in the trees compared to when he was on the ground. Which was interesting, considering he’d lived in a desert area for most of his life apparently. But Keith moved so flawlessly and effortlessly. It was like he was gliding through the trees. It didn’t even look like he was touching the branches at all. But in the blink of an eye Keith had managed to glide to the top of a redwood tree.

Lance had to take a step back as he looked at Keith. He couldn’t really see him that well from the ground, but Keith might have been happy? He was at least enjoying the view. Which made Lance happy.

The wind suddenly changed and Lance shivered a little. At first he thought it was just the chill, but the feeling wouldn’t go away. He turned around just in time to get hit in the face with a lump of wood.

***

After smelling smoke Keith needed to get some distance between him and fire. This wasn’t meant to be a rough trip down memory lane for him. This was meant to be a nice thing to do with Lance. Something he could do to get to know each other better. But smoke. Fuck smoke. He hated it.

Keith sighed and went to climb down the tree when he saw something very alarming; Lance was knocked out and getting dragged away by something. Without hesitation Keith jumped out of the tree and slammed his elbow as hard as he could between the creature’s shoulder blade.

This made the creature drop Lance and groan in pain. Keith stood between Lance and the creature, growling. Looking this thing over it definitely wasn’t human. Wasn’t a demon either. Too bulky. Kind of rocky looking. Had to have been some kind of far. A troll? 

“Where the fuck did you come from?” Growled the creature. “Fucking demon.”

“I could be asking you the same question you rocky piece of shit.” Keith was pissed and more than willing to go full demon on this guy’s ass. He was already letting his sclera go yellow and his horns grow out.

“Witches and warlocks shouldn’t be here!” They snapped. “I was getting him out of here.”

“Oh yeah? What bullshit is this?”

“This is Troll land, demon.” They snapped. “You don’t live here. You don’t know how these things work. “That warlock’s lucky I didn’t kill him right away. There has been a treaty here for decades. I’m not going to let some random warlock ruin it all for my people.”

“So you fucking attack someone who summoned a demon? I’m almost impressed. I can’t tell if you’re incredibly confident or if you’re just stupid.” He sniffed the air and growled. “Prideful. You’re just a prideful idiot… I’m really fucking sick of eating Pride.”

He lunged at the troll and went for his throat. It should have been a clean strike, but this troll was surprisingly faster than Keith expected. They managed to lean back ever so slightly and delivered a devastating uppercut that sent Keith flying. He hit the ground and was kind of shocked. He hadn’t been hit like that in ages. Was he going soft?

A smirk quickly broke across Keith’s face as he quickly got back up wiping the blood from the corner of his mouth. “You’re pretty strong aren’t you?”

“I could say the same for you.” Said the troll. “Most things wouldn’t survive a punch like that.” They cracked their knuckles and practically taunted Keith with a slight wave of his hand. 

It pissed Keith off. He lunged at the troll again, but was careful to avoid getting punched again. His swings were heavy but Keith could avoid his hits if he tried. Keith did try and claw at the troll, but quickly found that his hide was way thicker than he thought it was. He didn’t even manage to slice through the skin.

Suddenly the troll stomped the ground and made it shake. It knocked Keith off balance and stumbled. It was enough for the troll to swing his arm up and punched Keith hard in the gut. It was hard enough to make Keith puke.

Keith hit the ground and clutched his stomach, writhing in pain. He couldn’t believe it. He was a fucking demon for crying out loud. How could a troll take him down like it was nothing? He’d been hunting by himself many times. How could he not even get a scratch on him?

The troll raised his fist and was about to slam his fist right into Keith’s face when the ground exploded between them. When the dust settled there was a large barrier made of rock, dirt and plant roots separating the troll from Keith and Lance.

Keith looked over at Lance and saw him sitting up and holding his head. At some point he must have regained consciousness, but did that mean he was the one making this wall? Was that possible? Lance was a warlock but he wasn’t a very good warlock.

“Lance? Are you okay?”

“Y-yeah” Muttered Lance. “Just a small concussion. Nothing unusual for me.”

“Rax!” Another troll quickly ran through the treeline and up to the other troll. The way they spoke and carried themselves they seemed to be female. “What are you doing?”

“Get out of here!” Snapped Rax. “Warn the rest of the clan. A warlock has broken the treaty and brought a demon here no less!”

The female troll looked shocked and looked over at Lance and Keith. After a few seconds a look of recognition crossed her face. “Wait… Lance?”

Lance looked confused, but he slowly lowered the rock shield he had formed. “Me?”

“Yes you.” She walked over to Lance despite the protests of Rax. She stared at him for a few seconds longer before grinning. “Yep. You’re that Lance. You’re friends with Hunk, right?”

“... Yes?”

She grinned even wider and happily shook Lance’s hand. “It’s so good to meet you! I’m so sorry that Rax put you through this. But you know how some siblings can be, right? Hunk said you have a few older brother’s and sisters.”

Lance nodded along, but was super confused. “I’m sorry. Who are you?”

“Oh, I’m Shay. I’m doing a cooking class with Hunk.” She said. “He didn’t tell me you were a warlock, though then again why would he. He just thinks I’m a normal human girl. Does he know you’re a warlock? Are you two starting a new coven? Does Hunk know about magic?”

This was a little overwhelming for Lance but he tried to process this. “Hunk is… He knows I’m a warlock. No new coven. He knows of magic and all this but like, no he doesn’t know magic.”

“Ah, okay.”

“Yeah. Do you guys know a warlock called Marcello?”

Rax scoffed. “What’s the walking STI machine done now?”

“Rax!” Hissed Shay.

“... He was my uncle. He died.” Both trolls looked shocked before Shay death glared Rax and Rax looked panicked. Clearly they didn’t know that Marcello was dead. “Hey um, don’t worry about it. From what I found out about him a walking STI machine might be right.”

Shay glared at Rax some more before she looked back at Lance. “I am so sorry about what happened. This is troll territory. Well, we say troll, but it’s just generally fae territory. We have an agreement put in place to make sure that we don’t fight over resources… You probably didn’t know.”

“No I didn’t.” Said Lance. “Rax just hit me with a tree branch.”

“RAX?!”

“SELF DEFENCE!”

Shay obviously wasn’t buying this. “We’ll talk about this later… A-anyway. I am so sorry you got attacked. Fae are a little territorial and kind of cautious around magical humans. Misunderstandings happen.”

Lance nodded. “Yeah, don’t talk to me about misunderstandings. How do you think I summoned that?” He gestured to Keith who still looked very demon-like.

Shay nodded a little. “I see… I’m still so sorry about what happened. Rax should have handled this way better. We’ve just had a lot of bar run ins with witches and warlocks in the past few decades. The Daibazzal coven… They haven’t been very nice to fae over the past couple of years… and then there’s the times Marcello’s gotten into fights with them while he was out here...”

Lance just sighed. “Yeah… That sounds like something he would do… Um… Sorry about that.”

“It’s okay.” Said Shay. “Don’t worry about it. Hunk says your a nice guy and I’ll vouch for you if you come into fae territory again.”

“Yeah, speaking of Hunk… Are you going to tell him that you’re a Troll?”

“Probably a good idea.” Said Keith. “He’s kind of weird about magic stuff.”

Shay looked a little unsure, but she nodded in agreement. “Yeah… I guess I should… You don’t think it’ll change too much between us, will it?”

“If it does he doesn’t deserve you.” Grumbled Rax. “Humans and Trolls… Ridiculous…” 

“Rax. Enough.” Hissed Shay. “Um, Hunk says you two are roommates? When I do tell Hunk I’ll do it at your place. Okay?”

“Sounds good.”

Shay nodded a little and went back to Rax. They started arguing again and quickly walked off. Leaving both the demon and the human kind of confused. “... So that’s Shay huh?”

“Apparently.” Said Lance. He sighed a little and touched his forehead. “Am I bleeding? I feel like I’m bleeding…”

Keith was quickly by Lance’s side and checking his face. He had a little cut on his forehead and there was some bruising, but it didn’t look too bad. Keith gently rubbed his thumb over the cut. He speared a little bit of blood across his skin and he felt Lance flinch under his touch. Keith paused for a moment.

“Am I hurting you?”

“It hurts a little but it’s fine… I’ll just put some ice on it when we get home.”

Keith suddenly feel really guilty. “I’m sorry… I didn’t know warlocks weren’t allowed to come here… I just…”

“Hey, it’s okay.” Reassured Lance. “There was no way you could have known that… Also, you got a split lip.” He gently brushed the tips of his fingers against the very edge of Keith’s lip. Keith could feel his face burn at Lance’s touch, but he didn’t really know what to do. He just kind of froze and stayed staring at Lance’s cut.

“Yeah… I could heal your cut… If you want…”

“You can do that?”

“Well yeah… I know simple healing magic. Cuts, bruises, the occasional stab wound. Stuff like that.” Muttered Keith. “Just… Hold still.” He put his thumb over Lance’s cut, gently pressing into it and quietly mumbled his way through a spell. When he was done he carefully rubbed his thumb along the cut, effectively erasing it from his face. “There. Didn’t even leave a scar.”

Lance touched his forehead and made a surprised sound. “Huh. That’s pretty cool… You know what’s also cool? Your horns.” Lance reached up and lightly touched Keith’s horns. Something he hadn’t really had out much since they first let. It felt weird having someone else touch them. “... Tiny little baby antlers.” He cooed.

Keith went bright red. “What?!”

“So small. Like a young buck.” Said Lance. “Well, I guess you are technically a young buck and all since you’ve only been an adult for a little while and stuff. But they are so small. Will they get bigger?”

Keith shrugged and lightly swatted Lance’s hands away. “I don’t know. I’m not a full demon, remember? My dar’s horns were bigger, but he was a full sin-eater.”

“... I could shove a basketball between your horns and it would get stuck there.”

“If you fucking try I will bite your throat out.”

Lance chuckled a little and smiled at him. “Whatever you say demon boy. Let’s get out of here before another troll decides to knock me out and fight you.”

“Yeah.” They started to walk back the way they came and Keith thought back to the fight. He needed to not underestimate his opponents again. He could have seriously hurt Lance is he’d gotten his hands on him and… “Wait, since when can you pull rocks out of the ground?”

Lance seemed a little surprised by the question. But then he seemed to think about what Keith just asked him and he started to look unsure of himself. “Oh… I… I don’t know… I just saw you hitting the ground and all I could think was that you needed help and… um… Suddenly I’m pulling up the ground?”

Keith nodded a little. “Cool. Um… Thanks for that. Pretty sure Rax would have messed me up if you didn’t help out.”

Lance shrugged. “Hey, don’t mention it… Now I have to look up stuff about trolls! Holy shit! Hunk is crushing on a troll! Can you believe it? He’s gonna flip when he finds out! Hopefully it’ll work out since she seems really sweet and they seem to like each other. And I haven’t seen Hunk happier than he has been in the past few weeks just knowing Shay and-”

The man continued to babble on and on while Keith just nodded along. He wasn’t really paying much attention to Lance’s worries about Hunk. Keith was just impressed that Lance was able to rip up the earth like it was nothing and make a barrier. He didn’t know if it was a fluke or not but he was impressed.

He rubbed his fingers together nervously and found something sticky was on his fingers. He looked down and saw Lance’s blood. He kind of wanted to lick it and taste it again, but considering how he’d lost control before it probably wasn’t a good idea. He wiped it off on his shirt and concentrated on drawing his horns back into his head and looking human again.


	45. Jealousy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know I'm frustrating you all with how these idiots are acting, but there is a method to my madness. I swear. Enjoy these idiots continuing to be dumbasses. Kudos and comment when you can. Enjoy :D

A few days later Shay turned up at the house. Hunk of course was surprised, but he happily let her in. Lance kind of just hung around in the hallways when he saw her walking with Hunk. They gave each other a look of acknowledgement. Lance knew she was going to confess today.

About half an hour after she first came in Lance heard Hunk let out a surprised shout. Looking into the room he saw Shay in her troll form, looking rather sad, and Hunk just looking shocked. This probably wasn’t going very well. Lance was about to walk in and intervene when Hunk quickly started talking.

“This is kind of… Look, I’m really happy that you told me it’s just kind of surprising. Haven’t seen a troll in real life before, you know? I’m almost surprised at how um…”

“How what?”

“... How nice you still look.” Mumbled Hunk. “I um, I know this is probably just human prejudice talking and stuff but I just didn’t expect you to look the way you do.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah um…” Hunk nervously looked down at his lap. “So… Does this mean you’re not interested in maybe going out with me?”

Shay looked stunned. “What? Seriously? You still want to go out with me when I’m a… You’re okay with it?”

“Of course I am.” Said Hunk. “Just because you look a little different doesn’t mean you aren’t you. You’re still Shay and I still want to date you… If you still want to date me of course. I don’t know if it’s like, against the rules for a troll to date a human or anything like that.”

Her shocked expression softened and she kissed his cheek. Lance took that as his cue to leave. He was glad things seemed to be working out with Hunk and Shay. She was a really sweet girl and Hunk was a really sweet guy. Lance had a strong feeling that things were going to work out.

He walked past the kitchen to see Keith sitting on the floor trying to eat a whole uncooked chicken. “... You doing okay there?”

He looked up at Lance, ripping off a hunk of breast meat and skin on the process. “Yeah. Just having lunch. Are things going okay with Hunk and Shay?”

“Oh yeah. Hunk’s taken it pretty well. I think they are going to make it.”

“That’s good.” Keith looked down at the chicken in his hands. “Um… You want some of this?”

Lance quickly shook his head. “Can’t. Uncooked chicken can give people salmonella.”

“What’s that?”

“Bacterial thing.” Said Lance. “It makes you really sick. Stuff like fever, diarrhoea, chills… All that messed up shit. It can kill people.”

“Oh. Okay… So you have to eat cooked food?”

“It’s mainly cooked white meat.”

“... Meat is red?”

“Well yeah, but when you cook meat like chicken, pork, and fish it goes white. Therefore, white meat.”

“...” Keith just looked extremely confused and just quietly ate his chicken. Probably for the best right at the moment. Poor Keith was getting much too confused over human cooking habits. It was kind of amusing to Lance, but he just left Keith to his own devices as he went to get himself a drink.

He grabbed a can of soda out of the fridge and sat on the countertop near the demon. Lance hummed a little as he thought about what this would mean now that Hunk and Shay were going to get together. Loves seemed to be in the air in the house. Shiro had Adam. Hunk had Shay. Pidge… was probably making some kind of robot lover. And Lance was quietly pinning for Keith… Whos sexuality was debatable at this point. 

Sure Keith hadn’t shown any interest in women at this point, but these were human women. Keith would probably be head over heels for a female sin-eater when he eventually found one. Now Lance was feeling bad. A true romantic at heart he almost felt like he was keeping Keith from finding his true love. That sucked.

“... Hey Keith?”

The demon looked up at him with a mouthful of chicken. “Hmm?”

“What will you do when you go back to hell? You going to find a girlfriend or something?”

Keith frowned and slowly chewed his chicken as he thought this over. “I don’t know… Maybe… If I did find someone I don’t think it’ll be another sin-eater. We’re few and far between. We can mate with most other demons and I guess fae? Not too sure about those fucking weird angel fucks. Those guys are scary.”

“Yeah… What do demons look for in mates anyway?” Lance wasn’t seeing if Keith thought he was attractive or had traits a demon would like. No sir… Not at all… “Like, I’m just curious about what you guys think is hot?”

Keith shrugged. “I don’t know. It’s different depending on what the demon wants. Generally if a demon wants to have lots of kits they will look for a partner with wide hips for easier birth and mates that are extremely strong to protect both the kits and sar.”

“So it’s all super complex?”

“Yeah… Generally we kind of stay in certain body types… Like, a dragon wouldn’t become mates with a hellhound. A dragon will generally stay with other reptile demons. So like, in general I’d probably be attracted to more… humanoid things?”

Lance nodded a little. “Humanoid is good.”

“Yeah. Humanoid is good.” Keith leaned his head back against the cupboard and stared up at the ceiling. “... Humans seem to like curvy, young women.”

“Well yeah. I guess… Personally I just like cute confident women. Don’t really care too much about their age… As long as they aren’t too young. I don’t think I’d be comfortable dating anyone more than like… three years younger than me?”

Keith was quiet for a moment as he nibbled on a chicken wing. “... What about men? Hunk said you’re bisexual? That means you like men too, right?”

Lance was surprised but just nodded along. “Oh, well yeah. I like men. I guess I like strong, confident guys? I like people that know what they are doing. They need to be tough, but have a soft side.” He took a sip of his drink.

“... So you’d date Shiro?”

Hearing that made Lance do a spit take. He put his can down as he coughed. “E-excuse me?”

Keith looked shocked at Lance’s reaction. “What? You basically described Shiro… Well, minus the knowing what they are doing part...”

“... Maybe, but I’m pretty sure Adam has claimed Shiro and would fight me for him.”

That made Keith laugh a little and it was a beautiful laugh. “Yeah I guess… Is there someone you like right now? Like the way Hunk likes Shay or like Shiro likes Adam?”

“...” Lance could feel his face heating up. Was this it? Was he really going to confess that he liked Keith in such a dumb and lame way? Drinking soda in the kitchen while Keith had raw chicken all over his face? “Yeah… There is someone that I like.”

“...” Keith was quiet for a moment before he shoved the rest of his chicken into his mouth and got up.

“Keith?”

The demon washed up in the sink and dried his hands on his pants. “I’m going to go and find Shiro. After Rax kicked my ass the other day I need to get better at fighting.”

“Oh, okay. You guys can use the ball room if you like?”

“Thanks.” Keith quickly ran off and left Lance slightly confused and kind of concerned. Did Keith actually think he had a crush on Shiro? Things could get pretty damn awkward if that was the case.

***

Lance liked someone. Of course he did. Probably some pretty young girl, or some guy like Shiro. Keith could just imagine Lance coming back one day with them, smiling, laughing and introducing them to everyone. Shiro would be happy for Lance to have fallen in love with someone. Pidge and Hunk would be really happy for him too and Keith… Keith would just smile at them and let Lance go off and be happy with their partner.

It would suck, but what would Keith do? Kill Lance’s lover? That wouldn’t win Lance over in the slightest. It upset him a lot to think of Lance being with someone else, but it wasn’t like he could do anything about it. People fell in love with different people for different reasons. Still didn’t mean it didn’t hurt. Almost as much as getting a face full of Shiro’s tail getting swung at high speed.

Keith got hit hard and slammed into the ground, sliding across the floor. “Ow…”

Shiro walked over to him and gave her a confused look. “Keith? Are you okay?”

“Yeah…”

“You know, when you said you wanted to fight, I thought you would make an effort.”

Keith huffed and quickly got back up. “I was distracted.”

“I noticed.” He lightly nuzzled Keith a little. “What’s wrong? Why are you distracted?”

He shrugged. “No reason.”

“What do you mean no reason? There has to be a reason.”

Keith sighed a little and lightly pushed Shiro away. “Lance likes someone.”

“Oh? You know who?”

“No… Does it really matter?” Asked Keith quietly. “Lance likes someone and it isn’t me. He probably likes some cute girl or some strong guy… I’m neither of those things.”

“Well you can technically make yourself look female for hunting reasons, and you are very physically strong compared to humans.” Reminded Shiro.

This reminder didn’t help Keith feel better. “Yeah, but I’m not his type… I’m just… I’m not what he wants or what he needs. I’m just… I’m not human… Besides, Lance summoned me. I have some duty to protect him, right? I’m not strong enough right now. I need to get stronger so I can protect him and whoever it is that Lance likes.”

“You’re rambling again.”

“I know…” Keith lightly punched Shiro’s arm. “So just… Just fight me. Okay? Fight me so I can get stronger.”

Shiro sighed a little and quickly swatted Keith across the room. At least this time Keith was able to keep his composure and dig his claws into the ground to keep himself from completely falling on his ass again. That would have been embarrassing. 

Though the longer they fought the more erratic Keith became. He was upset and angry. Lance liked someone and he couldn’t do a damn thing about it. Lance didn’t like him. Who would like him. Who would like him? The only one that could actually like him was another demon. Even then it was debatable if a demon would want him.

He quickly slid under Shiro, grabbed hold of his back leg, and sunk his teeth deep into his thigh. Blood instantly filled his mouth as he tasted the thick, heady taste of wrath. Shiro roared in pain and quickly lied down trying to crush him.

Keith let out a surprised whimper and let Shiro go. Once he let him go Shiro got off him and quickly limped away. “You bit me! You actually bit me!”

“... Sorry.” Muttered Keith. “Got carried away.”

Shiro glared at him and looked down at the bite mark on his leg. It was pretty deep and nasty looking. Keith would need to do several healing spells to fix it. “That’s it. No more fighting if you’re going to try and eat me.”

“I wasn’t trying to eat you…” Mumbled Keith. “I was just… I’m frustrated.”

“Yeah, and you’re taking it out on me. What did I do?” Shiro lied down and started to lick his wound clean.

Keith shrugged. “Honestly? Nothing… You’re just Lance’s ideal partner…”

Shiro stopped mid lick. “Huh?”

Keith could feel his face burning. “I was talking to Lance and he said… He asked me what things demons find attractive in a partner and I asked him what humans look for… Lance likes men and women and his ideal man… He pretty much described you. He knows you’re all over Adam, but if he wasn’t around he’d probably be trying to get with you.”

“... Oh Keith.” Shiro was looking at him with pity. Of course it was pity. Poor pitiful sin-eater. “I’m so sorry… The only human I’d ever be with is Adam.”

“I know…”

“Yeah… Still no reason to try and bite a hole in my ass.” Grumbled Shiro.

Keith rolled his eyes and walked over to Shiro. “Whatever. Let me just heal you.”

“Okay.” Shiro stayed still while Keith placed his hands on his wound. He quietly mumbled out several healing spells that started to fix the deep muscle wounds. “So… Are you going to keep courting Lance?”

“... I don’t know.” Said Keith quietly. “Isn’t it wrong to chase after someone when they like someone else?”

“I guess, but maybe you should tell Lance how you feel?”

“No point if he likes someone else… If he doesn’t like the idea of a demon liking him, he could just send me back to hell.” Said Keith. “I don’t want that… I want to stay by Lance as long as I can. Even if I’m just some glorified guard dog for him and who he likes… Wouldn’t be surprised if at some point Lance gives me an order to protect them.”

“And you’d be okay with that?”

“Of course not, but if they make Lance happy then who am I to complain?” Asked Keith. “Human life is so short… If I mess up with Lance I won’t be able to apologise properly before he dies…”

While Keith was wallowing in self pity he felt Shiro wrap his tail around him and hold him close. “You’re a better man than most.”

***

“I don’t get him.” Whined Lance. After Keith had run off to train with Shiro, Lance wanted to talk with someone. But Hunk was still being all mushy with Shay, so Lance invaded Pidge’s room. The tech gremlin was busy going through tech stuff on her computer while Lance lamented about his failing love life to Pidge. “Like, I can kind of read emotions but I can’t. I just… Keith confuses me…” 

Pidge glanced up at him. “Maybe you should just tell him you like him already. What’s the worst that could happen?”

“He thinks being with a human is gross?”

“Clearly not the case.” Said Pidge. “Shiro’s in love with Adam.”

“Well yeah, but Keith is a different demon. Maybe it’s like super taboo for a sin-eater and a human to be in a relationship?”

“Keith’s parents.”

“Well yeah, but Krolia’s a witch.”

“You’re a warlock.”

“... Maybe I just don’t want Keith to think I’m gross or weird or something…” Mumbled Lance. “I can technically give him orders. What if I get really good at it and Keith just feels like he has to do them and I order him to do something he doesn’t want?”

Pidge looked at him and slowly raised an eyebrow. “Pretty sure Keith would bite out your throat before that happens.”

“I know… I just worry about this stuff.”

“Yeah… Pretty fucked up that you’re worried you might assault a demon like Kieth though.”

“I’m only worried because my magic fluctuates randomly.” Grumbled Lance. “... Do you think Keith would hate it if he knew I liked him?”

Pidge shrugged. “If it’s a human… probably not. But if it’s you… I don’t know.”

“Bitch.”

“Twink.”

“Nerd.”

“Just tell Keith how you feel. Aren’t you all about that kind of romantic shit?”

Lance sighed and looked out the window. The sun was starting to set. “I am, but Keith is… I don’t know how to romance a demon.”

“Ask Krolia?”

“Too close to Keith. She might curse me for liking Keith.”

Pidge rolled her eyes. “I think you’re over exaggerating, but… how about Allura?”

Lance’s eyes lit up. “That’s actually not a bad idea. I can ask her! Thanks Pidge.”

“Good. Now shut up. I have work to do.”

Lance looked over her shoulder. “What are you doing?”

“Trying to figure out how Shiro’s arm works. I need to know how much is tech and how much is magic.”

“Okay. Good luck with that.” He ruffled her hair. “If anyone can figure it out it’ll be you.”

She rolled her eyes and playfully pushed his hands away. “I know. I’m the resident genius here. Now shoo and go figure out how to woo your demon.”

Lance rolled his eyes and left her to her problem. Tomorrow he would go and talk to Allura. Hopefully she would have some insight. Maybe Coran would know something too? That would be nice. Any help would be helpful. His love life was a mess.


	46. Hurt

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ... Well, all aboard the feels train. This is an all stations stop to Fuck-this-vill. Next stop is hurt-town, followed by angst-shire, then all stations to Fuck-this-vill. You have been warned. Kudos and comment when you can. Enjoy :D

The next morning Lance called Allura’s shop and was surprised to find out that Allura was just about to call him. “I just had a feeling you needed me today.” She had said and soon after the elven woman was in his room and they were both lying on his bed. It kind of reminded Lance like a sleepover or something. All they needed was some face masks and to start braiding each other’s hair.

They had stayed still just staring up at the ceiling. Lance wasn’t too sure where to start with just telling Allura that he liked Keith. He didn’t know if there was some weird taboo thing that would disgust a fae or not. He was still too new to this.

“So… How’s the herb business?”

“Pretty good. The weather is picking up so we’ll have a few seasonal herbs coming in. Stuff to take the edge off a cold.”

“You saying you guys haven’t got a cure for colds or something?”

“Yes we do. It’s called a vaccination.” Said Allura. “Really, using magic on such simple things is a waste of time and doesn’t help your immune system at all. Then you have to keep using spells every year and it’s draining. Vaccines are just easier.”

“Huh, alright.”

“Yeah… You didn’t call me here to talk about vaccines though, have you?”

“No…”

Allura sat up and smiled down at him. “Then tell me. I’m all ears.”

“... What do fae think of demons?”

She thought for a moment. “Well… In general we feel like they are the black sheep of the family. People we can go to but only if we have to because nothing good can come of it… Then on the flip side we stay away from celestial creatures. They tend to be terribly self righteous and only see in black and white.”

“So you don’t like demons?”

Allura shrugged. “It’s a scale mostly. In general we’re not fans of demons, but individual demons are more trustworthy than others.”

Lance quietly processed what she said. That sounded promising enough. “What do you think of Keith?”

“Keith?”

“Yeah. Keith.”

A small smile made her way onto her lips. “I think Keith is a good person. A little naive to the ways of humans, but he is a good person.”

“Yeah… I um… I kind of like Keith…” Mumbled Lance.

Allura gasped. “Really? You do?” She seemed very excited. “Did you accept his courting gifts?”

“Well I… Wait, what?” Lance sat up and gave her a very confused look. “What do you mean courting gifts?”

Now Allura looked confused. “You haven’t been given gifts? I went shopping with Keith for his first courting gift. I helped him pick out the candy and everything!”

“That was him?!” Lance was shocked. Keith was giving him courting gifts? Did that mean the weird poem was also a courting gift? If Keith was courting him then that meant Keith liked him? Unless courting meant something different to demons. “Keith likes me?”

Allura nodded. “Of course he does. Demons usually leave courting gifts in their potential mates nests. Gifts range from weapons, food, love notes, and decorations.”

“... He left the candy and the demon love note on my bed.”

“Can I see the note?”

Lance went over to his desk and handed it to Allura. Lance hadn’t been sure what to do with the note and so he just kept it. “Here.”

Allura read over the note. Her eyebrows shot up in concern then she furrowed her brows as she read it again. “So he wrote it in high Infernal… A very tricky language to write.”

“Really? How tricky?”

“It’s like the English language drugged Arabic, Japanese, Russian, and Korean, beat the heck out of them with a lead pipe, and rifled through their pockets to steal random naming conventions, and symbols that look pretty. It is very difficult to write, but Keith gave it a very good go. The only thing he got completely correct is the last part.”

“What part?”

“The part that says; Watching you… And his name.”

“... Oh.”

“Yeah…”

“So what does it actually say?”

Allura shrugged and passed him the note. “It’s a typical high Infernal love poem. Two lines complimenting your appearance, one line about vanquishing your enemies, and one line about either making you smile of keeping you safe. These kinds of poems are considered some of the highest forms of love to demons. Well, the demons that can write anyway… And writing it in high Infernal too. It’s the equivalent of a human writing a sonnet or a ballad for their love.” 

“Whoa… I didn’t realise Keith felt that was about me… It’s really intense, huh?”

Allura nodded and smiled at him. “He really does love you. Demon’s don’t just start courting someone else on a whim. They take courting very seriously. So seriously that they will often fight anyone else attempting to court whoever they are trying to court. Often to the death.”

“... That is pretty messed up. But he likes me… What am I meant to do now?”

The elf smiled and held Lance’s hands. “Lance, you have to let him know that you accept and reciprocate his feelings.”

“Well yeah but-” There was a knock at the door and Hunk opened it up. “Hey Hunk. What’s up?”

“I’m going to pick Pidge up from the evil witch coven place.” He said. “I was thinking of grabbing some fried chicken for dinner. Today just seems like a gross fast food night.”

“As long as there’s all that crappy potato and gravy I’m all in.” Said Lance. “Get me some chicken tendies too.”

“You got it. You want anything Allura?”

“Oh, I’m actually pescatarian, so I can’t eat chicken… but if they fry their chips in vegetable oil I’ll take that.”

“You got it. Be back in about an hour.”

“Okay. Later big guy.” When Hunk walked away Lance gave Allura a confused look. “Pescatarian?”

“The only meat I eat is seafood.” Said Allura. “It’s partially a health thing and my particular branch of elf actually gets ill from eating animals that walk on land or fly in the sky. Not sure why that’s a thing but it is.”

“Is Coran like that too?”

Allura nodded. “Yes. I believe he said something about how our ancestors were given the ability to heal living creatures by sparing them from our blade… The only people that were allowed to take the life of animals were butchers. They would trade the meat with elves from tribes that were allowed to eat meat… Though when it comes to aquatic based lifeforms we can’t heal them… Anyway, we can heal pretty much most injuries up to and including severed limbs.”

“Huh, alright. That’s different.” 

“Yes… now weren’t you going to ask me something?”

Lance blushed and quickly averted his eyes. “R-right… I um… Is there a way I need to tell Keith that I like him? Should I start giving him courting gifts?”

“Oh… That would be interesting…” She chuckled at the thought. “Now that would be entertaining, but no. You do need to tell him how you feel.” She held Lance’s hand and moved in close to him. “You need to be confident. Hold him close and say what you need to say with confidence. You have to look directly into his eyes and say; I love you. Got it?”

Lance stared at her in surprise. He didn’t expect her to be so direct. “O-okay…” He moved his hands on top of Allura’s and took a few deep breaths to try and steady himself. He knew he was going to mess up if he just went up to Keith how and told him. “C-can I practice?”

“Sure. Just be confident. You honestly look like you’re about to piss yourself.”

He rolled his eyes and took a deep breath. “Okay… Oooookay… I can do this…”

“Now you look constipated.”

He pouted. “I am trying here Allura. Cut me some slack.”

“Just try and get the words out.”

Lance took a deep breath and looked directly into her eyes. He imagined they were Keith’s. Not just Keith’s eyes when he disguised himself as a human, but in his demon for. Bright yellow and purple mixed with grey. “I love you.”

Instantly he felt a sharp pain in his chest and an overwhelming sadness consuming him. Allura, also being more intune with emotions, flinched and looked towards the doorway, gasping in horror. Lance quickly followed her eyes to see Keith. He was standing in the doorway looking like he was about to knock on the doorframe. He was tense and had a look of betrayal on his face. After what seemed like forever Keith just looked defeated and smiled sadly at the pair.

“Of course it was her… I-I’m happy for you two...” He quickly turned and left. The feeling of sadness quickly left as Keith ran.

Panic quickly overtook Lance as he pulled away from Allura. “You… You don’t think he heard me and think I was confessing to you? Do you?”

Alluran nodded. “I think he did… We have to find him and fix this.” The two of them quickly ran out of the room. “Where do we start?”

“... You take this floor. I’ll take the attic.” Lance quickly ran off towards the attic and silently hoped that he’d either sense Keith’s sadness and find him or he would open a door and the house would let him find Keith. He had to fix this quickly.

***

Pidge cracked her knuckles and took off the VR headset. It was possibly one of the longest sessions she had done in the maze yet. She was pretty sure she had almost finished it too. She looked over at Ezor who had been monitoring her progress.

“Not bad.” She said. “You’ve actually finished ninety eight percent of the maze. Props to you.”

Pidge chuckled. “What? Like it was hard? Like seriously one of the rooms was based off of the Fibonacci sequence. Total lazy game puzzle if you ask me.”

Ezor laughed. “Yeah. I guess so.” She waved over at Lotor to get his attention. When the man saw her he reluctantly stood up and walked over to them. “Hey boss. Amazing news. Pidge as only two percent left on the maze and then we’ve mapped the whole thing.”

Hearing that seemed to surprise him. “Oh? Really?” He looked at Ezor’s screen and then over at Pidge. He frowned slightly at her before he sighed. “Well I guess it can’t be helped… I’ll have to inform Honerva of the progress…”

Just the mention of her name made Ezor jump a little in surprise. “Seriously? Do we really need to let her know?” She looked over at Pidge with an expression of worry. “I mean… come on Lotor.”

“Am I missing something?” Asked Pidge.

Lotor shook his head and smiled at her, but it didn’t reach his eyes. “She’s just been persistent about this project. You’ve exceeded expectations Miss Holt. You have been a pleasure to work with.”

“Okay?”

Ezor nodded in agreement as Lotor walked out to make a call. “Totally… Hey, isn’t it time to clock out?”

Pidge looked up at the clock. “Oh yeah, it is.” She grabbed her bag and headed out. “See you tomorrow Ezor.”

“Later… It was fun working with you.”

Pidge got into the elevator and headed down to the lobby. She waved at Hunk when she saw him. He waved back and stood up from his chair. Pidge passed through security and walked over to her friend. “Hey big guy. Miss me much?”

“There isn’t much of you to miss Pidge.”

“Just for that I’m reprogramming the microwave.”

They were about to leave when someone grabbed them both from behind. “Hold it.” They growled. Pidge turned her head to see none other than the head of security. Sendak. He was menacing with that fake eye rolling around in his skull and that gaudy looking robot arm. It was freaky and she hated it.

“Is something wrong Sendak?” She asked since Hunk looked like he was about to piss his pants.

The man glared at her. “Something’s wrong with your card. It got pinged. We need to fix this before you go. Also you.” He glared at Hunk. “There is an issue with your car. You both need to come to the security office and sort this out now.”

Pidge frowned but knew better than snap back at him. Hunk was too afraid to not obey what Sendak was saying. He walked them back through the security check and into the security office. This was going to take forever.

The second Sendak closed the door Pidge felt Sendak grab her shoulder and a violent wave of electricity coursed through her body and she hit the floor hard. She heard Hunk call out in shock and he hit the ground next to her. Did Sendak just taze them? Why did he taze them? It was too difficult for her to keep her eyes open and she slipped into unconsciousness.

***

Shiro huffed a little to himself as he stared at Adam’s skull. Over the past few weeks he had noticed it was starting to crack and decay. It was strange. He had been taking care of it like he always had, but it was still slowly rotting away. But what really worried Shiro was the fact he wasn’t worried about it at all. 

He was okay with letting Adam’s skull decay. Maybe this was a sign he was moving on? A sign that Adam from the past had forgiven him? He had no idea. He still kind of wanted to keep it though.

Suddenly the door to his room burst open and Allura quickly came in. “Hello Shiro. Is Keith in here? Have you seen Keith?”

“Huh? No. What’s wrong?” 

Allura looked uncomfortable. “I… kay, so I don’t know how much you know, but Keith likes Lance.”

“Knew that.”

“Lance likes Keith.”

“... Okay, didn’t know that but that’s good. Right?”

She laughed nervously. “I… well… Long story short, Lance was all nervous about confessing to Keith so he was practicing saying I love you with me till he felt like he could say it to Keith… Keith walked in on us when Lance said it. He thinks Lance was confessing to me. Now he’s run off somewhere. Please help us find him.”

Shiro quickly got up. “Of course. I’ll check the roof.”

“The roof?”

“Keith likes high places and dark places. Someone needs to check the basement.” 

“Right. I’ll go there. You check the roof.” Allura quickly ran off and Shiro made his way to the roof. 

It took him a little while for him to make his way to the roof. It was a little difficult for him to squeeze through the small door making it onto the roof, but Shiro managed to do it without having to change into his human form. He easily found Keith sitting on the edge of the roof. Shiro sighed and walked over to him. Keith was curled around himself so tightly he looked like he was wrapped in a ball. He was shaking slightly and quietly sobbing.

“Keith?”

“G-go away Shiro…” He whimpered. “I-I’ll be fine in a few minutes… Just… Just need time to process this…”

Shiro sat behind him and gave Keith some breathing room. “What do you need to process?”

“... L-Lance loves Allura.” Sobbed Keith. “I-I knew he liked someone else but he… I didn’t think it would be her, but she’s his type. A cute, confident woman. He’s probably been going to see her whenever he’s had the chance… I should have seen the way they look at each other they way she touched him when she was helping him… Shiro, they are in love with each other and I… Fuck. She knew I liked him. She’s the one that made me realise I liked him and I wasn’t sick!”

“Keith…”

“She tricked me!” He whimpered. “Allura tricked me! She made me think I had a chance with him! She made me think there was a chance I could win Lance over by courting him! She helped me pick out a courting gift for him!”

It hurt Shiro to see his littermate this distressed over this. He wanted to tell Keith what was really going on but he couldn’t do that until Keith had calmed down. If he didn’t then Keith would think he was lying. He’d think everyone was laying and lash out in his own personal distress. He’d end up hurting himself and anyone in clawing range.

“... I know you’re upset, but think logically for a moment.” Said Shiro calmly. “You knew this might happen. You knew Lance might end up liking someone else. It hurts now because you started courting him. Lance didn’t realise that’s what you were doing. He wouldn’t have known accepting the candy or the poem would hurt you when he found someone else. Lance likes you… Just not romantically? Maybe he sees you as more of a littermate? He might not like you romantically be he sees you as family?”

Shiro felt bad about manipulating Keith’s emotions by trying to draw Lance into their pack the way he was, but he had no choice. Despite it all the pack was extremely important to him. If it wasn’t for Keith’s need to have a pack he wouldn’t have tried finding him in the first place. He hoped that Keith could feel like having Lance as a littermate was better than nothing.

Keith was very still for a moment before his muscles started to relax. “Okay…” He said calmly.

“Okay?”

“Okay… I said that I’d do what I can to protect Lance and whoever he loves and that’s what I’ll do.” He muttered. Keith stood up and wiped his eyes. They were red from crying. “I’m just a summoned demon anyway. We’re just meant to be tools for witches and warlocks to use anyway.”

Shiro was slightly disturbed by Keith’s ability to just shut himself off from certain emotions at the drop of a hat. He’d only seen Keith pull his emotions back like that when his dar died. It was chilling to think that this perceived rejection and betrayal was enough to cause as much pain as the fire. But from experience Shiro knew it was best to just let Keith go with whatever he was feeling until he was ready to accept the truth.

“Okay. So you’re going to look after Lance now? No hurting Allura? You’re not angry anymore?”

Keith shrugged. “Not angry… Just tired…”

Shiro nodded and gestured for him to follow him. “Come. They were worried about you. You just ran off.” Keith said nothing but followed Shiro as they walked back inside. They quickly found the others freaking out in the dining room. 

As soon as Lance saw him he looked relieved. “Keith! We thought you ran… away… Are you okay?” 

Keith had a blank expression on his face as he just shrugged. He might have looked neutral and apathetic, but considering Lance was an empath he was probably picking up on the emotions Keith was burying deep inside himself at that moment. Shiro wished he knew what his littermate was feeling right now so he could help him.

Lance almost looked pained. “Keith I think I need to explain what you heard. You see-” Something heavy hit the window hard making everyone jump. “WHAT NOW?!”

Allura went over to the window and a raven quickly flew in. Its face seemed to be made of bone and reminded Shiro of the masks some of those in the Daibazaal coven would wear. Allura seemed to have the same thought. She reached out to touch it and the bird transformed into a piece of paper.

“A Daibazaal messenger bird.” She muttered. “Haven’t seen a witch use a messenger bird since email became popular.” She picked up the letter and read it. The further she read the more horrified she became. “O-oh goddess… They’ve been kidnapped. Hunk and Pidge… Haggar has them.” Lance quickly snatched the letter from her and read outloud.

_“To the fake Warlock currently residing in Marcello’s home. I Haggar of the Daibazzaal coven am tired of you McClain's interfering with my work. Since killing you doesn’t seem to be an option I wish to trade. What is more important to you? The ring and a house or the lives of your friends? Come to the Daibazzaal building. It will be unlocked. There will be no resistance. Enter the elevator and come to our coven. If you do not come tonight your friends will not see the next sunrise.”_

Lance looked like he was going to be sick. Allura was panicked. Even this revelation seemed to have shaken Keith out of his own rejection depression and he was worried for their safety. Shiro… Just the thought of going to that place made his arm and back hurt. What they did to him was tortue. No anesthetic. Brutal beatings. Drugged just enough to know what was happening, but never enough to pass out. The only reason he survived was because he was a demon. Hunk and Pidge were humans. They wouldn’t survive an hour depending on who was playing with them.

“W-what are you going to do?” Asked Allura. “The Daibazzaal coven has always been bad news. All fae know that… and after the stunt they pulled with the undead here a few months ago…”

Lance started pacing around. “I-I don’t know… If I give them the deed to the house they would own a fucking hell gate. They could do fuck knows what with it… a-and I can’t take this ring off unless I die or find the knife Marcello used to cut it off, and I can’t do that either. It’s part of the Key and they could use it to open the gate even without the deed to the house… E-either way I’m fucked...” He started pulling at his hair. “Fucking fuck! This… Fuck! I’m going to have to go there!”

“You can’t!” Said Allura quickly. “She wants you right in her coven’s stronghold so she has the advantage! The second you’re there you’ll get murdered! You’re not that good at magic!”

“I know!” Snapped Lance. “But they are my friends! I have to go with them!”

Allura glared at him. “Fine. I’m going with you. You’ll need someone that can cast decent healing magic.”

“I’m going too.” Said Keith. “You can’t fight for shit. You need someone that can fight back just as hard as they can take it.” 

Shiro knew that wasn’t the only reason Keith was going. He was going to protect Lance and Allura. “... I-I’m going too.” Said Shiro in a slightly more shaky voice than he meant to. “You need someone that knows what the inside of their coven looks like…”

Lance shook his head. “No way Shiro. I can’t ask you to go back to that place after what they did to you. That’s just cruel… I can’t ask any of you to do this.”

“Fuck off with that heroic bullshit!” Snapped Keith. “You can’t fucking fight for shit! A heroic sacrifice only means something if no one else can do what you’re doing! Anyone of us can fucking die for no fucking reason! You summoned me you fucking coward! I am your demon. I am here to protect you! No matter what you order me to do I will protect you and save your life!”

Even Shiro was surprised by Keith’s outburst. But for some reason it seemed to resonate with Lance. He stared at Keith in shock for a moment before he started to laugh. “Okay. Fine. Nice speech there Keith. Allura, you drove here, right?”

“Yep.”

“Good. We’re taking your car. Everyone get what you need. We’ll meet out the front in ten.” Lance quickly walked out of the room.

“Where are you going?” Asked Allura.

“I have an object of power I need to grab before we can really get this show on the road.”


	47. Daibazzaal stronghold

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Keith is an angsty boy trying to come to terms with Lance being in love with Allura (which he isn't the stupid demon child), while Lance is very quietly having a crisis of his own. Everyone is freaking out. No one is happy. But there is a lot of bamf Keith in this chapter, so enjoy that. Kudos and comment when you can. Enjoy :D

Lance felt like there was something very wrong with himself. Maybe this was that weird imprint or memory that Allura had talked about before? Probably. But to whom was ever put in this similar situation, Lance didn’t know nor did he really care. He just felt weird. After Keith had yelled at him about having a hero complex it was like his own thoughts were pushed back and something else took over for a second. 

Next thing he knew he was sitting in Allura’s car with the walkman in his lap. What was he doing? He was going to die and he didn’t even tell Keith he actually liked him. Should he do it now? Maybe now wasn’t really the best idea. It really didn’t seem like the right time.

Pidge and Hunk were in trouble. He could sort out his misunderstanding with Keith later. If there is a later. Oh lord he hoped there is a later. He had faith in everyone and their ability to protect themselves but he was pretty sure he might mess up and end up doing something stupid to get himself killed. 

He held the walkman so tightly he felt the plastic creak under his fingers. He hoped that they could save his friends. They didn’t deserve this. They didn’t deserve to get caught up in all this magic stuff. He wanted them to be alright. He’d never be able to make it up to them if anything happened to them.

Allura pulled up outside the Daibazzaal building. Lance had a feeling that this place worked on similar logic to the Marmora coven. With a shaky breath Lance got out of the car and stared up at the building. This was so fucked up. He didn’t know if he could do this.

As he stared at the building Keith walked forward, easily pushing the doors open for them. It was unlocked. They were expecting him. Maybe they were expecting him to come alone? Maybe.

They walked into the building and once they were in the door slammed closed and shutters dropped. All the lights were out for a few seconds before a few of them lot up, leading the group to an elevator. They were silent as they walked in and pressed the only button available. The doors closed and violent waves of dread washed over him. He felt like he was going to be sick. He felt like he was slowly losing control of himself.

***

As they stood in the elevator Keith tried not to think about how close Lance and Allura were standing next to each other. Pretty much shoulder to shoulder at the moment. It made his heart hurt. But he just pushed those feelings down. He had to think about saving Pidge and Hunk.

“Lance…”

“Y-yeah?” He sounded so panicked and it hurt Keith a lot.

“... Give us an order.” Said Keith. “I’m not going to sugar coat this. The second those doors open they will try and kill you. We need an order. What do you want us to do?”

Lance sood silent for a moment before he became strangely calm. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “If it isn’t Hunk or Pidge kill them all. Let their god sort them out.”

Hearing that was all Keith needed to hear. That pulling sensation that made him want to follow his Summoner’s orders was there. It almost warmed his demon heart that Lance told him to kill too. He wasn’t going to hold back. 

He turned his knife around in his hands. Something he carried around but didn’t often use. What better time to use it than now? He looked over at Shiro. His littermate seemed nervous, and Keith couldn’t blame him. If given the opportunity Keith would kill the people responsible for taking Shiro’s arm.

The second the doors opened there was a flash of light and Keith instinctively stretched his arm out and knocked away what was about to hit Lance in the face with his knife. It hit the ground and slid across the elevator floor. It looked like a small throwing dagger.

Keith looked down the hallway and saw one of the Daibazzaal coven member standing at the end of a long hallway. Keith growled at them. No more underestimating the enemy. He was going to treat every fight in here like a life or death situation.

He raced towards them in a matter of seconds. His speed seemed to surprise the witch who just stared at him in shock. With his free hand, Keith reached up and shoved their hand into the witch's mouth, curled his fingers in the back of their throat and pulled their jaw out. They also ripped a ribbon of flesh running all the way down to their pelvis. Keith then started to bash their skull in with their jawbone till it was nothing but a bloody pulp.

When he was done he stood up and glared at the trio still just standing in the elevator. “What?” He growled. “You told us to kill them. I’m going to fucking kill them.”

“Could have been a little less violent.” Said Allura as she stepped out of the elevator. “Where are we?”

Keith looked around the hallway. It was all made of stone and everything just seemed oppressive. Kind of like a cave, but worse. Keith didn’t like it. He hated it.

“Cells.” Muttered Shiro. “This is where they keep their prisoners… This is where they kept me…”

“Why did the elevator bring us here?” Asked Lance as he looked around nervously.

Shiro frowned as he shifted back to his manticore form. Being human was only good for traveling and getting into the building anyway. “Pidge and Hunk are probably here. Allura, are you the kind of elf that can sense life force or anything?”

Allura nodded and pressed her hand against the wall. Her eyes went white as she slowed her breath. “There are only two other living beings on this floor besides us… But they are stressed. I don’t know why they are, but they are. We need to hurry.”

She went to walk ahead of Keith but he stopped her. “No. I’m in front. Then you, Lance, and Shiro.”

“... Okay.” She said quietly. The group walked down the hallway with Allura giving directions. 

They didn’t encounter any more witches so it have Keith time to think and transform into his demon form. He couldn’t help but keep comparing himself to Allura. She was cute and while he was a literal demon. She had dainty soft hands with manicured nails. Keith’s hands in his demon form were all gnarled and calloused. His claws were cracked and looked more like something someone would find on a predator. She had big, soft, doe eyes that were kind and inviting. Keith’s eyes were yellow and glowed in the dark.

He was a demon. A Summoned guard dog at best. That’s all demons were to witches and warlocks. Only fools fell in love with the people that summoned them… And Keith was a fool. He’d just have to accept that this was it. He and Lance never had anything. That’s just how it was. He hoped they would come across something else he could kill soon.

“Here.” Allura placed her hand on a door and frowned. “... I’m sensing something else… Psychic magic. It would explain why we can’t hear them right now. I’ll be able to break them from their bonds when I get to see them.”

“Is there anything you can’t do?” Asked Lance. Keith wished he could undo charms and curses.

She just smiled at him, which hurt Keith even more. They walked into the room and found Hunk and Pidge on the floor. They seemed to be in a state of shock. Neither of them were restrained. They were just there. Twitching and shaking every so often as they stared off into the distance with blank expressions.

Lance was quickly by their sides and desperately trying to shake them from their frozen state. “Come on guys. Wake up. Allura, help them.”

Keith watched as Allura reached out to Hunk and Pidge, gently touching their faces. Seconds later the two jumped up and started screaming. Pidge was pulling at her hair and Hunk was raking his nails across his arms. It took them a few moments to calm down and realise they were safe.

Pidge was shaking. “Fucking bastard…” She whimpered. “Fucking one eyed fuck… My skin is so itchy.”

“Y-you’re telling me…” Whispered Hunk.

“What happened?” Asked Lance. “What did they do to you?”

“Sendak…” Said Pidge quietly. “He-he did something to us. Whatever he did he… Fuck it felt like spiders were crawling everywhere… In my hair, across my skin, in my mouth…”

“Yeash. I had ants under my skin…” Muttered Hunk. “That was the worst.”

Shiro let out a dark laugh. “So Sendak’s started psychological torture now huh? Bastard.”

“Well there is a silver lining.” Said Allura. “Whatever psychic magic he’s using is actually very weak compared to what I am used to, so it doesn’t affect me. I’ll be able to reverse any psychic attacks that Sendak might try. I also got rid of any other charms that they might have placed on you. Memory blockers and stuff like that.”

“So where are we now?” Asked Hunk.

Lance sighed. “Okay, short version is that Haggar wants to kill me and kidnapped you two to do it. We’re in their coven stronghold right now. Like where in their prison and stuff… We need to get out of here. We should be able to get out by the elevator if we go now.”

The group carefully walked out into the hallway, Allura helping Pidge stand and Hunk was leaning against Shiro. As they tried to get their bearings they heard something in the distance. It sounded like something unlocking. Several doors towards the elevator opened up and the sounds of movement came from them.

“... I thought you said we were the only things here?” Asked Shiro.

Allura suddenly looked very ill and she tried to push Pidge onto Shiro’s back. “I detected all the living things on this floor. The only living things are us. This is a prison, right? What do you think they do with the bodies of their prisoners?”

Almost as if to confirm her words a body shuffled out of one of the rooms. They were missing half their head and an arm. Keith squinted at the creature. Definitely undead, but it wasn’t like the army of undead that were there before. The others were puppets. This one was different.

It jerked around a little as it looked around. When it caught sight of the group it let out a deep gurgling sound and started to shuffle towards them. Keith would have taken it down straight away, but making that sound seemed to alert the other undead. Most of them were humans, but a fair few of them were demons too. They were the most mutilated out of all of the undead. Some of them had prosthetics attached to them.

Seeing that made Keith’s blood boil. They had done this to so many others before Shiro. He was just the latest in a long line of experiments. If they hadn’t been able to help Shiro back then would he have ended up like them?

“Is the only way out through those zombies?” Asked Hunk nervously.

“I… I think there’s another way.” Said Shiro. “But I’m not too sure…”

“There is.” Said Pidge. “I came too a bit before Sendak threw us into that cell and fucked with our heads.” She quickly pointed behind them. “I-I think we take a left and then we’re at some other elevator… I don’t know if it will get us out of here, but anywhere is better than here.”

“Shiro, get to that elevator.” Said Keith. “I’ll make sure they don’t get close.”

Suddenly a rapid barrage of bullets flew part Keith, blowing sizable holes in the closest of the undead creatures. Everyone jumped and quickly looked at Lance who was holding a smoking gun. 

“... Did you all forget that I have a magic gun?” He asked. “Because I still have a magic gun.” 

“Well when was the last time you used it?” Asked Pidge.

“When we last had an undead problem.”

Hunk laughed nervously. “Um, as much as I’d like to keep talking about this. Shouldn’t we get moving? They are still coming towards us…”

“Right…” Muttered Lance. “New order; Shiro, take Allura, HUnk and Pidge to the next elevator. Keith and I will thin the numbers out here. You have your orders follow them.”

Shiro seemed a little hesitant, but quickly did as he was told and tore off down the hallway with his charges leaving Lance and Keith alone to face the steadily growing undead horde. Keith rolled his eyes and quickly looked around to see what his best option was.

“You know, you should go with them.” He growled. “I have this.”

Lance quickly let off a few more shots and rolled his eyes right back at Keith. “I have a magic gun and the hallway is going to be flooded with all the undead in a matter of minutes. I think you could use a little help from someone with a long range weapon.”

“You shouldn’t be doing something risky.” Snapped Keith. “You need to stay alive for Allura. What kind of man are you if you just up and fucking die on the person you’re in love with.”

“Are we really doing this now?” 

“... I guess not.” Keith took a firm grip of his knife and charged right into the thick of it. Destroy the head, destroy the undead. Those were the general rules. Only a direct link with a necromancer could keep a headless undead moving. Not that it really mattered if that was the case. Keith would just rip every last one of them limb from limb. He just had to watch out for their bites.

Not that it really mattered much at this point. Most of the muscles keeping their jaws in place were too rotted to actually have a strong enough grip to rip through his skin. Even then Keith wasn’t too worried about infections. He wouldn’t die from a zombie bite. It was like a mild form of the flu to him.

He felt one of the undead latch onto his back and try to bite into his shoulder. Would have been effective if it actually had gums. Keith reached around and shoved his fingers into the undead’s eyes and pulled their skull and spine right out of their body.

Around him more gunfire went off and more of the undead dropped. By the end of it Keith looked like a crime scene. He was covered in blood, guts, and bone. He also smelled pretty gnarly too. He was going to need a bath after this.

“I… I think that’s the last of them.” He panted.

“Yeah…” Said Lance. “I think you’re right. You okay?”

“I’m fine… I-” Keith’s eyes were drawn to a shadow slowly moving above Lance. It was dark but it looked scaled. Keith squinted a little and saw that it was long and seemed to have a few chunks of out of it

Some kind of undead serpent. It opened its mouth and reared back ready to strike and swallow Lance whole. Keith raced to Lance and pushed him out of the way just as the snake struck. Keith only just managed to hold his hands out in time to hold its jaw open and stop it from striking. There was a slight crunch as the bones in its jaw broke, but it continued to try and force itself forward and swallow whatever was in front of it whole.

Keith had half a mind to let it do it just so he could claw his way out of its stomach. As he contemplated this he saw Lance reach inside the undead snake’s mouth, press the gun against the roof of its mouth and repeatedly squeezed the trigger. The force of the bullets blew the top of its head off and splattered its rotted brain everywhere

The serpent fell to the ground in a heap. “... Okay, now that was the last of them.” Gurmbed Keith. “Let’s find that elevator.”

“Okay.”

Keith sniffed the air and through the smell of rot he managed to pick up the scent of everyone else. They quickly walked in that direction, making sure to look out for more undead. As they walked Keith couldn’t help but notice how quiet Lance was at the moment.

“... Are you okay?” He asked.

“Why wouldn’t I be?” Asked the warlock.

Keith frowned and felt slightly sick. He knew why Lance was acting weird. He was worried about his friends, potentially dying and Allura. Especially Allura. It hurt but he needed to reassure Lance that she would be okay. “She will be okay. Shiro will protect her. He won’t let anything happen to her.”

“What? No, I’m not worried about her.” Said Lance. “I’m worried about this… Doesn’t this seem like a trap to you?”

“Huh?”

“When we got here they funneled us in here and now we’re getting funneled to a different elevator.” Said Lance calmly. He looked strange to Keith. He wasn’t acting the way he expected Lance to act in this situation, but he was right. They were being deliberately moved around to somewhere by Haggar. For what reason he didn’t know. It was strange. “Where do you think she is taking us?”

“I have no idea.” Said Keith. “But I’m going to make sure you will be safe.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, I am.”

Before Keith could elaborate anymore they rounded the corner and found their friends trying to open the elevator. When Lance got close it inexplicably opened and everyone quickly got in. Once again there was only one button. Pidge pressed it and the elevator rattled to life.

Everyone was quiet for a few seconds before Lance spoke up. “I’m sorry this happened to you guys… You don’t deserve this… I… I fucked up so badly.”

“This isn’t your fault.” Said Pidge. “You didn’t ask to be related to a guy that fucked them over.”

“Yeah.” Said Hunk. “None of this is your fault. It was never your fault.”

“Thanks guys…” Lance looked like he was going to cry. It hurt Keith to see him like that and he wanted to comfort him, but Keith wasn’t fast enough.

Allura gave him a small hug and gently squeezed him. “It’s okay Lance. Everything will be okay. Promise.”

Lance smiled slightly when she said that. “Thanks…” Why couldn’t Keith comfort him? Why did he have to be like this? Was he really nothing better than a guard dog for witches and warlocks? At least he could vent some of his frustrations out here as he destroyed as many bodies as came after them.

***

Lance was still feeling weird. He was too calm. It was weird. He didn’t know what was going on. He shouldn’t feel this calm. Hunk and Pidge were getting mentally tortured and he and Keith killed a bunch of undead but felt… He felt nothing. Nothing at all. Which scared him. The only thing he was scared about was being scared by the fact he didn’t feel anything. It was so strange. He had no idea. He felt like he was going to have a panic attack over this. 

Why wasn’t he even scared about dying? That was a strong possibility. Haggar wanted him dead. She was was going to kill him. Probably brutally too, but he didn’t care. He was almost, happy? He didn’t understand what was happening to him. He felt like he was going to be sick.

When the elevator opened Pidge gasped. “Holy shit! No fucking way!” She quickly ran out into the room and looked around. “Guys! This is what I have been doing every day at my internship!”

“Um… What is this place?” Asked Hunk.

Pidge gestured to the door on the far side of the room. “It’s a maze! Ezor’s had me map this place out for months. It’s a giant 3D maze. Who would have thought it was a magic thing? This is the start of it.”

Allura looked around and frowned. “This is weird… It’s an illusion.”

“Really?” Asked Keith. “Looks pretty solid to me.”

“Well it is, but it isn’t. It’s hard to explain… It’s kind of like how in a dream you can touch and hold things but they aren’t real.” Said Allura. “... What on earth did this?”

“No clue.” Said Pidge. “They tased me before I could find out.”

“So you know how to get through here?” Asked Hunk. “Do you think they are trying to trap us in here?”

Pidge shrugged. “Well I know the whole place back to front already. No way we’re going to get lost.” 

As they talked about the maze and what they could do, along with what stunt Hagger might pull, Lance started feeling really weird again. Kind of dizzy and gross? Just an overall feeling of filth covering his body. He started to feel his hands move as they moved to his pockets and picked up the walkman. He put on the head phones and pressed play despite there being nothing in them. Surprisingly, when he did this he felt less dizzy but still gross. Then his body started talking again of its own accord.

“Whatever caused this maze to exist doesn’t matter. What matters is that Haggar wants it. So we’re going to get it first. A bargaining chip if you would.” Lance started to walk towards the maze with a confidence that he didn’t have moments ago. “Keith, Shiro, your orders are slightly altered. If they are not Hunk, Pidge, Allura, or myself you are to murder them with extreme prejudice. Hell, fuck those bitches in the vagina, and if they don’t have one fucking make one. We are getting whatever’s at the center of this maze. I’m not taking any shit from these wannabe demon fucking whores.”

Lance was shocked by the words that came out of his mouth and so was everyone else. Telling them to murder them was one thing, but he hadn’t been that colourful with his choice of words before. Maybe they would chalk it up to Lance being under a lot of stress when this was over? He hoped so because once again those were not Lance’s words.

“Um… Okay?” Said Keith. 

“Let’s just go…” Said Pidge. “Before Haggar tries to do something like dump more undead things on us.”

The group nodded and carefully made their way into the maze. They didn’t have any other choice at this point. All they could really do was stay together and hope that they could get out of this alive… While they were doing this Lance still had to worry about what his own mind was doing and what fucked up, bullshit magic thing was happening to him this time. He hoped it would pass soon.


	48. Mind fuck

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The maze is filled with many traps and well... All I can say is everyone get your tickets ready to board the nope train to fuck that vill because we are speeding there with no signs of stopping! This is your final warning! Kudos and comment when you can. Enjoy :D

As Pidge lead them through the maze Lance couldn’t help but hear a little bit of a beat coming from the headphones of the walkman. There was nothing inside it and it couldn’t play any radio stations. It was cassette only. Sometimes the beat would get louder when they went one direction and then quieter when they went another.

He was starting to think that the main function of this object of power was to be able to detect other objects? But if that was so shouldn’t it be going off like crazy? Keith’s knife was technically one too. Maybe it was only specific objects? He didn’t know. It was all scary and confusing. Now he had another thing to sort out before fixing things up with Keith. If he wasn’t sane then Keith wouldn’t accept his feelings as actually being real.

As they continued deeper into the maze Lance couldn’t help but feel that the architecture of the maze seemed very familiar. It looked a lot like his house. There were even random bits of furniture in every room. It was weird. That was really weird. It was like the house had somehow leaked into their coven. Kind of creepy.

As they walked Pidge rattled on and on about the things she learned about the Daibazzaal coven. Apparently after Allura freed her and Hunk from their illusions she also removed whatever charm the Marmora coven had put on her mind to protect her from getting discovered by this coven Pidge was able to make all kinds of connections that she hadn’t before.

“So they kept having all these prototypes-” she said. “-And I was kind of weirded out when they kept coming up with stuff like it wasn’t compatible with the test subject. Pretty clear now that these psychos were summoning demons to use as their test subjects and just kept them around as guard dogs for when shit really hit the fan.”

“That’s really fucked up.” Said Hunk. “They… I don’t know how someone could do something that horrible to another living creature.”

Lance wanted to voice his opinion, but he didn’t feel confident about doing that. If he did, he was afraid that he wouldn’t talk in his own voice again. It made him feel weird. This was all too weird.

Keith was suddenly next to him and gently nudged him. “Are you okay?”

Lance nodded.

“... Are you sure? You don’t look very well.” Noted Keith. “Do you feel sick? Do you need to sit down for a moment? You can sit down on Shiro’s back?”

Lance shook his head.

“Come on Lance, talk to me. Please?” Pleaded Keith. “... Would you rather talk to Allura? I can bring her over for you.” Keith moves to get her. 

When he did that Lance quickly reached over and grabbed his arm. “No…” Said Lance quietly. “I… Haven’t you noticed I’ve said weird things? Something weird is happening to me and I… I’m scared. Someone’s using my voice again.”

“...” Keith put his hand on Lance’s and gently squeezed. “It’s okay Lance. When we get out of here we’ll figure this out. It’s okay. I promise.”

“Thanks…” Lance didn’t know if he sounded very comforted or not.

“And… Here!” Pidge opened up a door. She opened a door into a large room filled with random bits of furniture. The doors were placed around random places on all the walls. It was interesting to say the least. Lance kind of liked the chandelier in the middle of the room. The group walked into the room and Pidge started counting doors. 

“What’s with this room?” Asked Shiro.

“It’s another door puzzle.” Said Pidge. “Like the last room. Every once in a while the light changes purple and you need to open... this door or you’ll just get a brick wall. Trust me. I’ve done this room like thousands of times.” She went over to the door and went to pull it open when the light changed. But the second the light changed colour the floor shook violently, tilted and everyone fell. 

Lance hit the ground hard and Keith landed hard next to him. The fall wasn’t too big but everyone seemed to have been separated by in the fall.

“Is everyone okay?!” Called Shiro from behind a tall wall. “I’m here with Pidge!”

“I’m okay!” She called. “If anyone cares!”

“I’m okay!” Called Hunk. 

“Me too!” Called Allura. “I’m with Hunk!”

“Lance and I are together!” Called Keith. “What do we do now?”

“... The wall over here is kind of thin.” Said Shiro. There was a crumbling sound and Hunk and Allura cheered out a greeting. “Hey we found you!”

“We can walk around and get to you two!” Called Pidge. “It’ll take a bit but we can get to you guys too!”

“Okay!” Called Keith we’ll wait here. They heard the sound of feet walking off somewhere and soon they were alone, and Lance had a horrible headache. “Are you okay?” Asked Keith as he crouched next to him.

Lance sighed and shook his head. “Nothing is going right anymore… And now I have a headache.”

“...” Keith gently touched Lance’s face and tried to make his headache slowly go away. Like he had done once before. His face was so close to Lance’s. “Are you okay now Lance? Are you hurt anywhere else?”

“...” Lance slowly swallowed and took a deep breath. The situation was getting worse and worse and eventually he was probably going to die or something was going to fuck him over to the point he wished he was dead. “Yeah, I’m also hurting here…” He moved one of Keith’s hands to his chest and put it over his heart. “My heart… Because you think I’m in love with Allura.”

“Well, aren’t you?” Asked Keith. “You told her that you love her.”

“But I’m not.” Reassured Lance. “I was never in love with her. The only one I’ve ever loved was you… I’m in love with you.”

“... Lance.”

“I love you Keith. I love you so much.”

***

Hunk jumped a little in surprise as he quickly sat up. He had a splitting headache, like he had been drinking the night before. Did he go drinking the night before? He sighed and slowly got up and went to go to the bathroom. It was then Hunk noticed that he wasn’t in Lance’s house. He was back in their tiny little apartment.

“... Lance?”

“Kitchen!”

Hunk walked into the kitchen to see Lance cooking pancakes in the kitchen. He was humming happily to himself as he worked. Which weirded Hunk out a lot. “Um… What are you doing?”

“Making pancakes.” Said Lance. “We kind of went a little overboard with drinking last night. I have no idea who thought it was a good idea to drink and watch scary haunted house movies… Bet it was Pidge.”

“Yeah… Sounds like her.” He looked around, still feeling kind of uneasy. “So…”

“So?”

“I had a really weird dream…”

“What about?”

Hunk shrugged. “I had a dream you inherited a house from your uncle, you became a warlock and you summoned a demon.”

Lance chuckled. “Oh please tell me we became magic buddies, or was this a scary dream?”

“Eh, more of a scary dream.” Admitted Hunk.

Lance shrugged. “Happens sometimes. You have weird dreams when you drink.” He gave Hunk a stack of pancakes. “Here. Eat up. You gotta look decent for your date with Shay tonight.”

“That’s tonight?!”

“Yeah man.” Said Lance. “And don’t you worry, I’m gonna go and cry outside Pidge’s house till she feels sorry for me and lets me in. I’ll give you guys all the privacy you need.”

Hunk blushed a little. “Don’t say it like that. Shay’s a classy lady. We’ll just eat dinner and watch a movie.” For the first time in a long time Hunk actually felt calm. This was all just some dumb alcohol fueled dream. It was all a dream. It was all a dream...

***

Shiro quickly looked up and growled. His head hurt and his eyes hurt. Everything hurt. He rubbed his eyes and looked around. He was… He was in a forest? He frowned and rolled his shoulders, feeling something into the back of his head. He quickly turned his head and almost bumped himself in the face with a wing. His wing. He had his wing? Why did he have his wing? He looked down at his arms and was shocked to see that he had both arms that he was born with.

Then he felt something gently bumping up against his side. He looked over and mush to his shock he saw Adam. Stark naked and only keeping what little modesty he had left with an old cloak. He was only just waking up.

“Hmm, Takashi?” He mumbled. “Five more minutes…”

“Five more minutes…” Mumbled Shiro. This was… This was the day after. The day after Adam found out everything. How many times had he played this out in his head? More times than he would care to admit. He curled protectively around Adam. When he woke up he’d take Adam away. No waiting. They would just go. He had to keep Adam safe. No matter what he would keep him safe.

***

Pidge fell forwards through the door and hit her head against the ground. Hunk quickly picked her up. “You okay there Pidge?”

She grunted and rubbed her forehead. “Yeah. Now my head hurts and…” She looked at the room in front of her and was surprised. There were thousands upon thousands of computer and robotic parts everywhere. It was… It was beautiful. She quickly ran forwards and started digging through everything.

“What are you doing Pidge?” Asked Allura. “We have to get out of here.” She reached for her but Pidge swatted her hand away. “Pidge?”

“Shut up!” Snapped Pidge. “Don’t you see this? Look at all of this! Look at it! There are millions of dollars worth of robotics in here! I’ll be set for life if I even just take one piece and-”

“Pidge, we have to go.” Said Lance.

She couldn’t help but roll her eyes. “Oh shut the fuck up Lance! Just shut up! You’re set for life now! You’re fucking rich! Hunk’s a fucking master chef! Any day now he’s going to get some job at some five star restaurant and me… What about me? I’m just some girl that’s wasted her time at this fucking place! You have any fucking clue how hard it is for girls to get into STEM fields? I’m the only girl in my robotics class! I have no guarantee of a job or anything in the future! I have fucking nothing and this is my chance! Just let me find something I can take with me!”

She ignored whatever the rest of them had to say as she crouched down and dug through everything. She was mad. Why wouldn’t she be mad at them? She just wanted to be able to get ahead in life. Was it so bad to want to have some advantage? She had to take this opportunity. She’d be quick. It would be fine.

***

Keith’s eyes snapped open as he quickly sat up. He was back in his nest. He was… That’s right he was having a nap. Didn’t stop his own headache though. He rubbed his eyes and glanced over at the sleeping figure next to him. It was Lance. He was a little surprised, but happily ran his fingers through Lance’s hair.

Lance groaned a little and his eyes fluttered open. “Hmm?” He looked up at Keith and pouted. Evidently not happy to be woken up. He wrapped his arms around Keith’s middle and lazily rested his head against Keith’s lap. “Don’t get up yet. Sleep now.”

Keith went bright red and he started to gently groom his hair. “I’m not going to get up. You just stay there and sleep.”

“I will.”

“Good.” Keith smiled and looked down at Lance’s perfect body. He loved him so much. But why was he in his nest when he told Allura that he loved her? He didn’t get it… but he still loved him. “Lance I-I love you…”

Lance glanced up at him and grinned. “Love you too babe. You’re still so cute. All nervous and stuttering when you tell me you love me. Just like you haven’t said it millions of times before.”

“I-I… what?”

Lance chuckled and sat up. Without warning the beautiful man lightly tugged down his shorts showing off handprint bruises on his hips. He then took one of Keith’s hands and put one over the bruise. It was a perfect fit.

“You were all blushing and embarrassed when we were having sex last night.”

“Huh?”

“And in the library.”

“What?”

“And by the pond.”

“Eh?”

“I’m surprised I didn’t get bruised more.” Purred Lance. Damn it. Why was Lance so damn seductive? They, they did have sex yesterday, right? Yeah? Why would Lance lie to him of all people? He didn’t really understand what was happening, but this was Lance. Lance loved him and Keith loved him back. The Allura thing must have just been a horrible dream. This was real.

***

Allura groaned a little and rubbed her head. Why did walking into that room lead to a massive headache? It felt like someone was cracking her head open with a hammer. She rubbed her eyes and looked around the room. It was still as large as every but things were really weird. Pidge was crouched down in a corner quietly muttering to herself. Hunk was sitting in a chair just smiling contently at nothing. Lance was talking to a lamp, gently running his fingers over the lampshade in a soothing manner. Keith was doing something similar, but with a globe in his lap. Shiro had just wound himself around a loveseat and was quietly purring.

This was weird and her headache wasn’t going away. She squinted her eyes and looked up at the chandelier. It was still bathing the room in a bright lilac light and giving off a strange energy.

“A psychic trap?” It had to be. It was rather weak. The chandelier was made up of several small psychic crystals. From the way everyone was acting it was probably meant to keep everyone in a state of bliss until they succumbed to starvation or dehydration. 

She had to break it. She quickly looked around the room and saw a coffee table. Allura picked it up with ease. Being an elf she was naturally stronger than most humans, more agile too despite her slim frame. 

With a running start she charged at the chandelier with the table raised above her head and jumped. The feet of the table hooked around the ornate decorations and she yanked down hard. It fell to the floor. Psychic crystals were as fragile as glass and all shattered on impact with the ground. This didn’t fully break them out of the crystals psychic influence though. They needed an audible shock.

“WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?!” Screamed Allura at the top of her lungs. “YOU IDIOTS! YOU’RE ALL STILL IN THE SAME ROOM! YOU’RE IN THE SAME DAMN ROOM!”

Everyone kind of froze and slowly looked around the room. Everyone became extremely embarrassed and didn’t really seem like they could look at each other. Allura just shook her head. No one was saying anything.

“Look.” She said. “I have no idea whatever you saw, but it was a trap made to keep you placid and in place until you died. Let’s just get going now. Okay?”

“Um yeah…” Said Shiro quietly. “I um… Pidge, where are we going now?”

“Um…” Pidge looked around and pointed to a door. “This one… Let’s get going.”

She reached reached for a door and was about to open it when they suddenly heard someone laughing and clapping. They turned around saw a one eyed man walking through a door with a sick grin on his face.

“Sendak…” Whispered Shiro.

“Well, I didn’t expect you to have an elf in your group.” Said Sendak. “I was going to drag you out one by one and have a bit of fun with you all.” A sick sound that seemed to be some form of a laugh made its way out of Sendak’s throat. “But this is fun too. You even brought back my favourite manticore. Torturing and killing demons is much more fun than humans. You can live for hours after getting all your limbs chopped up without needing any medical assistance. Humans die way too fucking quickly.”

Keith growled and quickly put himself between Sendak and everyone. “You think you can fucking kill us all? We have two humans, one warlock, an elf, and two demons. You really think you stand a chance?”

“One demon.” Corrected Sendak.

“What?”

“You have one demon.” He said with a smirk.

“...” Keith slowly looked at Shiro and Allura did too. The Manticore’s eyes were going all foggy and he was starting to sway as his breathing became more labored. “Oh fuck… GET AWAY FROM SHIRO NOW!”

“Wait, what’s happening?!” Asked Hunk in a panic.

“HE’S GOING TO GO INTO A RAGE!”

“FUCK!” Yelled Lance. “PIDGE WHAT DOOR? WHAT DOOR?”

Pidge quickly pulled open a door and the group ran out as fast as they could. “What the fuck is a rage?!” Asked Pidge.

“Manticore are an embodiment of wrath!” Said Keith as they quickly rounded a corner. “Shiro’s going into a blind rage. He’d going to kill us all!”

“How do we stop it?!” Asked Hunk.

“We can’t!” Said Keith. “We have to wait for him to calm down! We have to stay ahead of him!” A deafening roar filled the air. Shiro was pissed and on the hunt.


	49. ultricem angelus

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay just set me on fire! I am emotionally drained from writing this chapter! This took so much out of me! I had to drink half a bottle of Kraken rum to outline it and then way more time fixing all my mistakes! Read the tags people before you come at me with your screams! I am just... I... Argh! The tags people! The tags! Super important for the end of the chapter! Also have fun translating the title. It's Latin... Kudos and comment when you can. Enjoy :D

Several things were going wrong today. First and foremost, Shiro was trying to murder them all, they were stuck in a maze that was inside another coven’s stronghold, Lance still felt like he was slowly becoming less and less like himself, and Shiro was trying to kill them. So everything was horrible. Oh, and Shiro was still trying to kill them.

Pidge managed to pull them into a small deadend room while Shiro ran past them, and Keith managed to quickly whisper out the rules for staying alive. Rules Lance was already familiar with. So he just paced around the room. 

He felt sick. He didn’t know what was going on in his mind anymore. Was it the maze? He had no idea why he was feeling like this. Lance sat down on the floor and put his head in his hands. He needed to keep calm. This was okay. He took the walkman out of his ears and shoved it into his pocket.

He didn’t have time to have his own existential crisis. Everyone was freaking the fuck out about surviving and Lance just wanted to know what was going on in his head. It made him feel violently ill. He hated it. He hated it so much. He looked over at his friends that just looked horrified, but were trying to come up with a plan. 

“...” Lance couldn’t do anything. He really couldn’t. He couldn’t use magic or do anything to help save his friends or himself. He wanted to cry in frustration, but he couldn’t. Everything was his fault. Why couldn’t he just get his head on straight and fix it? He was meant to be a warlock. Wasn't he meant to be super powerful? All his magic so far had been accidental.

“Lance!”

His head snapped up and he looked up at Allura. “Y-yeah?”

“Are you okay? You don’t look too good.”

Lance smiled at her and stood up. “Me? Nah, I’m used to this… I mean, I survived Shiro attacking me before. I can do it again… You think there are any pianos around I can throw at him?”

“Lance…”

“No really. I’m fine.” He put his hand on her shoulder and smiled. “Really. All we have to do is knock Shiro out. Shouldn’t be too hard.”

“Well… Not really.” Said Allura. “All we have to do is immobilize Shiro long enough for me to go over and touch him to break him out of whatever magic Sendak has put him under. Like what I did with Hunk and Pidge.”

“Oh, okay.” That was actually a solid plan. Hopefully they could pull it off. Maybe Keith could distract him and Allura could just run up and slap him? That might work. They could do that. “Okay, so does everyone know how this works?”

Pidge nodded. “Yep. Move slow and don’t move if Shiro’s in the same room.”

“If he is in the same room we stay still and wait till he leaves.” Said Hunk. “... We are totally going to die…”

“Try and be more positive?” Suggested Allura.

“We’re going to die quickly.”

Keith patted Hunk’s shoulder. “That’s the spirit big guy.” He pressed his ear against the door. “... Okay he’s gone now. Let’s get moving.”

The group cautiously left the room and started walking in the opposite direction Shiro ran down. She was talking quietly about some of the weird things she had found in the maze when she was working with the simulation. That somehow snowballed into Pidge talking about Sendak and the fact he actually has a prosthetic arm like Shiro.

“Yeah, and it has this flesh cover thing over it. I think it’s got some magic thing over it to make it look normal.” She said. “I happened to skim over a few of these weird prototype things and they had some files that were prototypes for certain candidates. Ezor said it was just for fun and stuff, but I am totally convinced that Sendak’s arm can turn into a huge claw and just rip people to pieces. I think it’s like diamond grade or something? Super sharp.”

“I’m going to make him eat his hand.” Growled Keith. He was pissed. Lance was pretty sure even if he wasn’t an empath he would be able to feel the rage coming off of Keith. Hell, he was pretty sure everyone else felt it too. They were keeping their distance from him.

They entered a room that was a nightmare of architecture. Rebarb, pipes, and all kinds of other random pieces everywhere. There were also probably half a dozen different doors on the walls and the ceiling. What one were they meant to go through.

As they walked around and waited for Pidge to figure out what door they needed to go through one of the doors in the ceiling opened up and Shiro came crashing through. He took out several pillars on the way and just shook it off like it was nothing.

Instantly everyone froze while Shiro growled and roared. He slowly started stalking around the room as he hunted them down. Lance could feel everyone quietly panicking. He watched him slowly approach Pidge and loomed over her. He stayed staring down at her for a few seconds before the tension left his shoulders and he started to head towards a door.

He was so close to leaving when one of the doors on the wall opened up and Sendak threw a vase. It shattered. Instantly Shiro turned around and pounced on the broken pottery. Sendak laughed and clapped his hands. Surprisingly this didn’t seem to alert Shiro at all. He was still preoccupied with the pottery.

“Really? You’re all just going to walk around and pretend you’re not here when you precious manticore comes around? That’s not fair is it? He deserves something to play with.” Sendak snapped his fingers and several more doors opened up to reveal witches. Dozens of them. Each of them were readying their spells. They were going to force them to move. Shiro was going to see them and slaughter them.

Lance had no idea what to do. He could try and shoot Shiro, but he didn’t want to kill him. He didn’t want to hurt him either. Maybe he could shoot Sendak? But if that didn’t stop whatever he had done to Shiro the manticore would just run over and rip him open. He wished he wasn’t so stupid and actually knew how to fix this. How to protect his friends. It wasn’t fair.

“FUCK IT!” Yelled Keith as he launched himself at Shiro and crashed into his side. They both tell over and tumbled. Shiro roared and tried to pull Keith off or crush him when he threw himself into the ground or walls. Thankfully Keith was quick enough to climb around Shiro’s body with ease. A skill he must have picked up after centuries of practice.

This just meant they had to deal with the witches that were about to rain hell on them. Which in all honesty, was probably the worst option considering there were many of them and only four of them. Minus Keith of course.

The four of them quickly ran to find cover. Lance did shoot in the general direction of the witches but had no idea if he had hit any of them. He managed to dive behind a fallen concrete pillar with Pidge.

“Hey Pidge, you’re smart.”

“Yeah?”

“How fucked are we?”

“We’re getting fisted up to the elbow.” Said Pidge. “Pretty sure you know what that get feels like.”

“Really Pidge? Really?” He groaned in annoyance and looked down at his gun. “Why can’t you turn into something useful like an rpg or an anti tank rifle?” Almost instantly the hand gun he was holding stretched and reformed into a much larger gun. “... Oh… Okay… that’s an anti tank rifle. Oh fuck! It’s an anti tank rifle!”

“Stop yammering and fucking use it you dumb ass!” Snapped Pidge.

Lance nodded and quickly set up the rifle and lined up the shot and started firing at the wall. Some of the witches fell from the doors and hit the floor. They just went and took cover. Behind other fallen debris. He managed to knock Sendak down with that hit too.

He seemed pretty pissed off about that and before Lance could pull the trigger again a metal claw shot out towards him, grabbed the barrel of the gun, and yanked it right out of his hands. This claw seemed to be attached to Sendak.

“... Is this what you meant by Sendak having a fake arm?”

“Yeah. Let’s get out of here before ge decides to claw us to death.”

“Agreed.” Lance grabbed Pidge by the arm and the two of them bolted. They did their best to dodge magic attacks and falling rubble. Pidge dived behind a pile or concrete and rebar.

Lance managed to dive out of the way of some magical strike that some witch threw at him and almost slid into Shiro. He managed to grab hold of Keith and slammed him into the ground. Shiro was really trying to grind Keith into the ground with his paw. Keith was doing his best to hold Shiro back, but he was struggling.

“Sh-Shiro!” Gasped Keith. “Please! Y-you’re my brother! I love you! Please don’t so this!”

The Manticore did seem to hesitate for a moment, but Lance couldn’t risk him putting anymore pressure on Keith’s chest and crush him. He had to get him away from Keith. Lance quietly prayed to whatever was meant to be watching over them that they would take pity on him and help him.

He felt the muscles in his arms strain, like he was lifting something. Lance hoped he knew what he was doing and quickly moved his arms in a throwing motion. Instantly Shiro was thrown through the air and into a wall. The impacts made several of the witches fall from their standing positions in the open doorways and into the room.

Allura didn’t waste a second. She quickly ran to Shiro and placed her hands on his face. She grabbed hold of his ears to steady herself, which was a good idea since Shiro immediately threw his head back in an attempt to throw her off. He was then still for a moment while Allura clung onto him for dear life.

“... Allura?”

“Good to have you back Shiro. Less talk. More witch killing.”

“Okay. Right.” Immediately Shiro turned around and jumped on top of a witch, turning them into jam.

Lance felt slightly better knowing that Shiro was back on their side, but they still had a lot of witches trying to kill them and if Lance was really honest he was kind of getting scared by the rage Keith was radiating.

He watched Keith quickly run up a wall and pull a witch out of it by shoving his claws into their guts and pulling them out by their guts. This just seemed to make him angrier for some reason. He was probably looking for Sendak. He was the one Keith really wanted to kill.

Out of the corner of his eye he saw a flash of yellow. Lance watched as Sendak slipped through a side door. Keith seemed to notice it too because he was after him in a second.

_KILL HIM! I’LL FUCKING KILL HIM! I’LL FUCKING KILL HIM!___

_ _Lance knew immediately those were Keith’s thoughts. He wasn’t thinking clearly. This was going to end in tears. Keith wouldn’t be able to do this on his own. “KEITH!”_ _

_ _***_ _

_ _Keith burst through the door and growled. Sendak had run into some room that looked like they were using it for storage. It was like a mini maze within the maze. Boxes of magic items were everywhere; stones, weapons, and clothes. Keith wouldn’t have minded looking around, but he couldn’t right now. _ _

_ _He wanted to kill Sendak. He was going to kill Sendak. He was going to stab the fuck out of that bastard for what he did to Shiro. He was going to claw his face off. Tie him up and torture him for what he did to his littermate._ _

_ _He sniffed the air and growled. “GET THE FUCK OUT HERE!” He screamed. “GET THE FUCK OUT HERE AND FACE ME YOU FUCKING COWARD!”_ _

_ _Sendak’s laugh echoed through the room. “Why so angry? Shouldn’t you be used to it? You’re a demon. Do you really think you’re really worth more than that? Demons are just tools. Only witches and warlocks can decide what we do with your lives.”_ _

_ _Keith was shaking in rage now. “FUCKING FACE ME!”_ _

_ _“Why so angry? What kind of life did you live to get this angry?”_ _

_ _Keith growled louder and quickly raced through the boxes. He wanted to just kill Sendak. He didn’t want to hear him talking anymore. He wanted to rip his throat out. Pull each of his ribs out one by one._ _

_ _Suddenly he felt Sendak’s hand gripping the back of his head and violently pulling him back. “Let’s dig into those repressed memories and see why you’re so fucked up? Shall we?” Keith tried to pull himself out of Sendak’s grip, but it was too late. Keith’s mind went blank as he was forced to relive that one event all over again._ _

_ _***_ _

_ _Keith was standing alone in the middle of a forest He was crouched down by a tree digging up bugs. He dug up an interesting looking grub. It was blue and green. He sniffed it a few times and licked it. It was secreeting some kind of weird goo to try and deter him from eating it, but hey it tasted better this way. He ate the grub and started digging for more._ _

_ _His dar and Shiro were out hunting something big, so Keith couldn’t come along. He was apparently too small and would be considered a liability if he went with them. So he was just left alone to look for bugs and eat them. He found soft ones, crunchy ones, pointy ones, ones with stingers, and ones with wings. They all tasted fine to him._ _

_ _Suddenly the smell of something weird filled the air. It smelled like… burning? But far away maybe? He wasn’t too sure. The wind changed direction and Keith was hit with a fall of smoke and heat. That heat quickly gave way to fire. It wasn’t unusual for there to be fires in this area, but this was too close. There shouldn’t have been anything around that could cause a fire like this._ _

_ _Before Keith even realised what was happening he was surrounded by flames and other creatures trying to escape in blaze. It was all happening too quickly. Keith didn’t know what to do._ _

_ _“D-dar!” He cried. “Shiro! Where are you?! Help me! Please!” Keith started coughing as he tried to make his way through the smoke and fire without getting burned or crushed by falling branches._ _

_ _It didn’t matter where Keith went. There was just fire and smoke everywhere. He was scared. He couldn’t find his pack. He started hyperventilating and coughing harder. He was getting dizzy and tired. He wanted to find his dar, but he was so tired._ _

_ _Keith fell to the ground. He couldn’t keep going on. He was scared and tired and couldn’t find his dar or Shiro anywhere. He let out of few distressed chirps as his eyes slipped shut. He couldn’t understand why he was suddenly like this. He was just scared and wanted his dar to save him._ _

_ _Suddenly he felt hands reach out and grab him, jerking him back into reality. “Keith! Keith are you okay?”_ _

_ _“Dar?” Keith rubbed his eyes and blinked up at his dar. He looked so worried. Keith reached up and hugged him tightly. “Dar! Where’s Shiro?”_ _

_ _“He can’t land. It’s too smokey. There’s too much fire.” He looked around and quickly started running. “We need to get up higher so he can grab us. Hold on tight to me.”_ _

_ _Keith buried his face into Akira’s chest and whimpered. He was scared. Everything was scary. He didn’t know how to get out of this. He felt Akira climb up a tree as high as they could before stopping. Keith peeked out and looked around He could kind of see smoke and flames. But they were up high now. In a tree._ _

_ _Akira had one hand on the tree trunk and one hand wrapped protectively around him. “Come on Shiro… Where are you…”_ _

_ _After a few seconds later Shiro circled around and hovered close to them. He couldn’t get any closer to them. Akira took a cautious step forwards, but the wood started to creak. This tree was going to fall soon. The fire had eaten away too much._ _

_ _Keith whimpered and started crying. “I-I’m sorry dar… I-I’m sorry…” He didn’t even know what he was sorry for at this point. He was just sorry.”_ _

_ _“It’s okay Keith. You have nothing to be sorry for. The fire wasn’t your fault. It’s fine… You’re going to be okay. I promise.” He squeezed Keith tightly. “It’s okay Keith. I love you so much.”_ _

_ _“I love you too dar.” Sniffled Keith as he held him tightly._ _

_ _“Do you trust me?”_ _

_ _“Y-yes.”_ _

_ _“Good… Now listen carefully. You have to trust me right now. You have to let me go.”_ _

_ _“What?!”_ _

_ _“Trust me Keith. Please.”_ _

_ _“... O-okay.” Keith quickly squeezed his dar tightly and let him go. Seconds later Akira threw him right at Shiro. Keith screamed in surprise but Shiro managed to catch him. Keith clung tightly to his leg and looked at his dar. He attempted to run across the branch to try and reach them, but the branch broke before Akira could jump. He fell down into the fire. His screams were ringing loudly in Keith’s ears as he was burned alive._ _

_ _***_ _

_ _Keith’s eyes were stinging and his chest was heaving. He could still smell the smoke. All the smoke. It was horrible. The vivid memories were still just as burned into his mind. He needed to get out of there. He needed to leave. But his legs were locked and wouldn’t move. All he could think about was watching his dar vanishing in the fire. He was terrified. He felt like he was going to die._ _

_ _“Aw, your dar all dead? Gonna cry about it?” Asked Sendak with amusement in his voice. “Let me give you something to really cry about.”_ _

_ _Something thin and sharp ran through Keith’s left shoulder. In an instant he was brought out of the fiery vision and was back in the warehouse. However, there was a huge pool of blood quickly forming around him. He jumped in surprise and then he noticed the arm on the ground. His arm. The blood was coming from his severed limb and bloody stump. It was at that point his nervous system decided to kick in and he screamed in excruciating pain._ _

_ _He looked up at his attacker and saw the sadistic look in Sendak’s eye. “Run.” He growled. Keith felt like a deer caught in the headlights. He had no idea what to do. For the first time in a long time he was actually terrified and felt like a kit again. There was no dar to save him. No Shiro to help him. He shouldn’t have run off on his own. “I SAID RUN!” Bellowed Sendak._ _

_ _Terrified, Keith took off running. He didn’t know what to do or where to go. He might be able to climb the shelves on the warehouse and might be able to find Lance or Shiro, but it would be hard with only one arm, but he could try. He had to try it. He jumped for the shelf, but when he did, he felt something thin and sharp running through both his thighs. He fell flat on his face. Both legs completely severed from above his knees._ _

_ _“Oh fuck…” He whimpered. “Oh fuck, oh fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck.” Keith attempted to drag himself away but he had little to no leverage. There was too much of his own blood on the floor and he only had one arm. He could hear Sendak walking closer to him and laughing. This man was a sadist through and through._ _

_ _“I’ve always loved you demons.” Said Sendak with a laugh. “Always so easy to fuck around with you but you don’t die easily.” He pulled Keith up into the air by his hair and threw him into a crate on the warehouse shelf. Keith hit the ground and whimpered, but he still tried to get away from Sendak. He didn’t want to die like this. “Wow, look at you. Almost all limbs gone and still kicking. Aren’t you fun? Let’s see how much fight you got when you can’t see.” _ _

_ _He grabbed hold of Keith’s head and before he could react, he drove his thumbs into his eye sockets. His eyes put up no resistance as Sendak drove his thumbs all the way into the back of his sockets. He could feel them scraping the deepest parts, completely plunged into a world of darkness. Keith knew he was screaming. He had to be screaming. His throat felt horse and he couldn’t tell if he could taste blood from the blood gushing out of his sockets and into his mouth or from shrieking his lungs out in pain._ _

_ _“That’s right…” Sandak practically purred. “Scream just that little bit louder. Scream louder. Come on. You can do it. Scream louder. Fucking scream you little pig. Do I have to cut something else off to make you-”_ _

_ _The sound of gunfire rang through the air and Sendak let Keith go. Keith was in so much pain from everywhere. He just laid there in the darkness Sendak forced on him and silently pleaded for someone to either save him or kill him. He wasn’t sure which one he preferred at this point._ _

_ _He felt a hand on his right arm and screamed. “NO!”_ _

_ _“Keith, It’s okay. It’s me, Lance.” He said. He sounded like he was struggling to stay calm._ _

_ _“L-Lance?” He sniffed the air and through the sharp tang of his own blood he could smell Lance’s scent. He felt like crying. He didn’t know what to say. “H-help me…” He whimpered._ _

_ _“It’s okay. I got you now.” Lance grabbed him and did his best to pick him up. “It’s okay. We’ll get to Allura or someone and we’ll get you some help. I promise.”_ _

_ _Keith whimpered and held on tightly to his shirt with his one working arm. “I-I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have run off. I’m an idiot. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry.”_ _

_ _“Shush. It’s okay Keith.” Said Lance in a soothing manner. “You did nothing wrong. I did a shitty job keeping up with you. If I’d been here… You will be okay. I’ll make sure you’re okay. You’re not going to die.”_ _

_ _Why did this have to happen? Why did He have to get mutilated so badly? He was going to die and it was all his fault. “L-Lance?”_ _

_ _“Yeah Keith?”_ _

_ _“I-I need to tell you something just in case I-”_ _

_ _“Don’t finish that sentence.” Said Lance quickly. Whatever calm he had left was starting to waver. “We’re both going to get out of this and it will be fine. It will be- gark!” Lance stumbled slightly and crashed into one of the shelves. _ _

_ _Keith yelped when he fell on top of Lance and was instantly met with the smell of fresh blood. A lot of fresh blood that wasn’t his. It was Lance’s. He started to panic. “Lance?! Shit, Lance! What happened? S-say something!” He had trouble balancing as he used his hand to touch Lance’s chest and abdomen. He felt all too familiar soft squelsh of entrails. He’d been hit. Sendak had struck him with something and now his guts were spilling out._ _

_ _Lance coughed a few times and he felt Lance run his fingers through his hair. He gently pulled Keith forward and kissed him softly on the lips. It was tender, soft, and loving. “I love you.” He whispered._ _

_ _Keith couldn’t stop himself from crying. “You fucking bastard… You tell me not to say it but then you go and say it before I do. Asshole… I love you too.”_ _

_ _He could just tell Lance was smiling as he talked. “Yeah, well one of us has a feeble human body and the other is a demon.” He started coughing hard again and his breathing was getting shallow. “Keith… Eat me…”_ _

_ _“What?” Keith was horrified. “I-I can’t eat you! Why would I? W-what?”_ _

_ _“I’m an empath warlock.” He said quietly. “If you eat some of me you might be able to get away and get the others… You can do it… P-please get away…”_ _

_ _“Lance I-I can’t… I… I can’t do it Lance, I can’t...” Keith felt like he was going to be sick. Why was Lance so stupid? … Why wasn’t he saying anything? No quick comeback or snarky quip about him being a man eating demon and should be fine with this? “Lance? S-say something… Why aren’t you saying anything? Lance? Lance?” With a lot of difficulty he touched Lance’s shoulder and he fell from his sitting position to the ground. “... L-Lance?” He had to crawl on top of Lance to even get close to his face. He touched his face, ran his fingers over his nose and mouth but couldn’t feel him breathing. “Lance?”_ _

_ _Lance wasn’t moving. He wasn’t breathing. He was dead and it was all his fault. If it wasn’t for him, Lance would still be alive. A small strangled whimper left his lips. This wasn’t fair. Why did this have to happen to Lance? Why did he die? Why? He hardly realized he was bawling his eyes out until he heard Sendak laughing._ _

_ _Sendak slow clapped and slowly walked towards him, reveling in his misery. “How fucking touching. Stupid fucking warlock. I wasn’t done playing with you yet. Weak little bitches should know better than to try and shoot at me and steal my toys. Worthless bastard deserved it. And you know what? This is all your fault. It’s all your fault this warlock is dead. Aren’t you meant to be his guard dog? Not even good for that.”_ _

_ _This was all his fault. Lance was dead. Now he was going to die. Sendak was going to kill him. There was nothing he could do. His hand moved against something soft and squishy. Lance’s entrails. Could he actually do it? Could he actually eat him? This was the last thing he could do to save himself and get a small bit of revenge for Lance… And it was Lance’s last order to him even if he didn’t say it was an order. He was a fucking demon and he was going to follow his last order through to the end._ _

_ _He quickly dug into Lance’s flesh. Ripping it apart and quickly swallowing chunks. He didn’t know how much he needed to eat or if it would do anything to him at all. He ate sinners. Lance was nowhere near a sinner. If anything this was almost self sacrifice. The taste of his meat proved it. It didn’t taste like anything he had ever eaten from a sentient creature before. It was like eating an animal. For the first time Keith couldn’t taste pride. It was clean and without sin._ _

_ _Keith still had a mouthful of Lance’s insides in his mouth when Sendak kicked him away, knocking him into another box. “You’re so pathetic.” He growled. “Everything that you are, everything that you will ever be is pathetic… And surprisingly that’s more than that fucking maggot that pretended to be a warlock. Now that little shit. He really was nothing.”_ _

_ _No he wasn’t._ _

_ _“A good for nothing little bastard that he died just as he lived; with no one giving a shit about him.”_ _

_ _Keith cared._ _

_ _“I’m almost sad I gouged out your eyes. You should see the fucking mess you made of him.”_ _

_ _Shut up._ _

_ _“Blood here, guts there. You really went to town on his corpse.”_ _

_ _“Shut up…” He whispered._ _

_ _“What was that? I didn’t quite hear you.” Sneared Sendak._ _

_ _“I SAID SHUT UP!” An unbridled rage Keith had never felt before filled him. It was so overpowering he could feel it just trying to burst out of him. A righteous fury. A burning sense of justice. “LANCE IS NOT PATHETIC YOU MISERABLE FUCK! YOU FUCKING KILLED HIM! YOU FUCKING KILLED HIM AND I’M GOING TO KILL YOU!”_ _

_ _Sendak just laughed. “What? You serious? You only have one arm. You can’t even see me. What are you going to do you little shit? Gnaw my ankles?”_ _

_ _Keith gritted his teeth as he felt the skin on his back ripple and tear apart. “Just you watch me…” He growled. “Just you fucking watch me.” Six blood red wings sprouted out of his back as thick, almost metallic plates forced their way out of his skin and overlapped like a shell. It even extended past his missing limbs. Reforming them and reshaping them. With his newly formed left arm he reached out and the knife still in his severed arm flew out towards him and he gripped it tightly. It transformed into a sword in his grip. He opened his eyes, reformed and new, and death glared Sendak. “I’ll fucking kill you.”_ _

_ _“... What the fuck?” Growled Sendak. “How the fuck can you fucking look at me like that? I gouged out your eyes! I cut off your limbs!”_ _

_ _“Fuck you that’s how!” He raised his sword and charged at him, letting out a primal roar that would rival any beast. It seemed to strike some fear into Sendak as he didn’t move when Keith reached him. He grabbed Sendak by the throat and the two of them slid across the ground with force._ _

_ _The hit seemed to knock Sendak out of his stupor and he grabbed Keith by the throat with his one human hand and he started punching Keith in the face with his robot arm. It hurt. It hurt a lot. But at least with his armour plating it made it harder for his to actually face actually get damaged. _ _

_ _By the third time he got punched in the face Keith had enough of Sendak’s bullshit. Keith pulled his head back just enough for Sendak to lose his grip. When Sendak swung his arm at him again Keith bit his fist and ripped it off, spitting it back in his face._ _

_ _“Fucking bastard!” Growled Sendak. His fake eye started glowing again and Keith could feel him trying to pull him back into the dark. Back into some illusion that would make him whimper and tremble like a kit._ _

_ _But Keith wouldn’t let him. With his free hand he gouged out the eye and threw it across the room. “Eye for a fucking eye!” He growled. Keith then stabbed Sendaks’s other arm and he cried out in pain. That just made Keith smirk. “And if you think I’ll even eat a single fucking piece of your tainted meat you are fucking insane. I’ll eat a lot of things, but I won’t eat shit.”_ _

_ _He grabbed Sendak’s head in a crushing grip and with a primal roar he slammed Sendak’s head down against the ground. His skull hit the ground with enough force that it exploded like a watermelon on impact._ _

_ _Keith stood over Sendak’s body panting heavily. The bastard was dead. Good. But was he meant to do now? He’d have to meet back up with Shiro and the others. What would he say when he told them Lance was dead, or when he told them he ate some of Lance to become this. Whatever this was?_ _

_ _With a heavy heart Keith walked back to where Lance was. He could only imagine what his body looked like now after everything he did. He felt awful. He didn’t want this. He never wanted this._ _

_ _When he got to where Lance’s body was he froze, but not because Lance’s body was so mangled it made him feel sick. No. He froze because there was no body. Lance’s body was gone._ _


	50. Puppet master

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay. Here is the deal. It might start off a little weird and ya'll are gonna be like; "wtf? What about what happened in the last chapter?" Well, it all loops around right at the end and sets the tone going forward... 
> 
> Also when I use the term Psychopath, I am using this definition;  
**Psychopathy** is traditionally a personality disorder characterized by persistent antisocial behavior, impaired empathy and remorse, and bold, disinhibited, and egotistical traits.  
I did look up the differences between psychopath and sociopath and that seemed to be a much more fitting label for what is happening. Not just tossing that term around for shits and giggles.
> 
> Kudos and comment when you can. Enjoy :D

Marcello’s path down to the supernatural started at a very young age. At the tender age of three he had watched a very, very old black and white movie on TV. He couldn’t remember what it was called or what it was about, but there was a scene where one character hypnotized someone with a pocket watch.

It had intrigued him and he spent hours in the chicken coop trying to hypnotize chickens. He was pretty good at it too. He had a natural talent for suggestions. He could easily hypnotize the farm animals and made them do simple instructions by the time he was ten.

Around that time his parents started to really hammer the fear of god into him. Telling him of all the wrong and wicked things in the world. At first Marcello’s questions were relatively innocent and harmless. He’d usually receive the standard answers of; The bible says so. Because God said so. Because that’s the devil’s doing. Because it’s a test. These were things he was satisfied with as a child. 

Though he had started to practice his hypnosis in some more subtle ways on human subjects. Something he did on some of his younger siblings. Never asked them to do anything dangerous or humiliating per say. He’d just subtly suggest that they take on a few more chores every once in a while.

During his adolescence, and in part due to his parent’s upbringing, Marcello decided he would actually like to have a job with the Catholic church. Of course his parents were thrilled that their eldest was set on the path of God. It filled them with pride.

Then Marcello entered high school. Everyone kind of saw him as some holier than thou asshole, yet he had this charismatic personality so no one could really hate him. He was still an okay guy. They had no idea that Marcello had mastered hypnosis. He was pretty much magic at this point. He easily charmed the teachers and students alike.

However he was still on the godly path. So he would use his charm to stay out of trouble, make people leave him alone. Though he did use it to make other people do group work. He was still planning to go into the clergy and had been talking to the local minister about what he could do.

When he was fifteen a new girl transferred to his school. She was completely breathtaking and for the first time in Marcello’s life he felt love. Her name was Angella. She had long raven hair tied back in a braid decorated with flowers. Her sink was clear and her eyes were practically golden. She smiled at him and Marcello was hers.

He had considered possibly using hypnosis on her, but he honestly felt gross about it. Turns out he didn’t need to. She approached him first. They hit if off right away and she would come over to his house often after school for homework things.

At first his parents didn’t approve of her. They hadn’t seen her at church and didn’t want a devil child in their home, and even said it to her face. Marcello was so embarrassed by his parents outburst. Angella just took it in her stride. She explained that her grandma was very, very ill and was unable to go to church to look after her. She was bedridden and her neighbour looked after her while she was at school. This softened his parents up a little, but they still didn’t like her very much.

Marcello didn’t care. He felt something with Angella and he knew Angella felt something for him. It all came to ahead one weekend when Angella suggested that he spends the night at her house. It was heavily implied that she wanted to have sex. Marcello, being the extremely horny teenage boy he was agreed and made a story up to his parents about staying at a friend’s house.

She was beautiful and perfect when he went to her house. Her grandma was already asleep in bed so it was just the two of them. She had cooked a surprisingly lavish dinner for the two of them and by the end of it she nervously told him that this was going to be her first time. 

Marcello nodded and awkwardly voiced in a slightly squeaky voice. “M-me to.”

She kissed him. Her lips were sweet like sugar. Angella took him by the hand and lead him to her room. It took him a moment to take it all in. He was about to do it. He was about to have sex with Angella. He hoped he was okay at it. He knew what to do, right? He didn’t really look at porn and he did do his best to keep all his perverse thoughts suppressed.

However his thoughts were quickly interrupted when Angella struck him hard in the back of the head with something heavy. He was knocked out before he hit the ground. When he came to he was in the kitchen while Angella was waving her arms over his body while muttering incoherent things over him. He tried to move but quickly found he had been bound with ropes.

“A-Angella? What are you-?” 

She slapped him hard. “Shut up and stay still.” 

Suddenly the lights in the house went out and a chill filled the air. There was a creaking noise from the floorboards and wispy black ink like smoke slithered out and manifested itself into a shape. A creature that looked humanoid but it’s skin was made of black tar and it had dozens of red eyes all over its body. It looked down at them both and Marcello almost screamed in horror. He would have too if Angella hadn’t spoke first.

“Oh great and powerful Vilis! I your humble servant wish to make a deal with you. I have even brought you a sacrifice to sweeten the deal.” Angella gestured to Marcello. “A young, virgin human male. It’s taken me months to get this idiot buttered up enough to come here.”

Marcello was in shock. He thought she loved him. She was just using him. Vilis looked down at Marcello for a few seconds and then back to Angella. “Let me guess, you’re some fool that got your hands on some magic book and assumed that I would help you because you served up some virgin on a silver platter? You really are new to this magic thing and you know nothing about my kind.”

They reached out and grabbed Marcello by his shirt, pulling him up into the air to get a good look at him. Marcello whimpered and quickly started muttering prayers under his breath in some hope that this would save him somehow.

“He is yours to do with as you please.” She said. “Kill him, eat him, I don’t care. His yours to do with as you see fit. Just please grant me my wish.”

“And what is your wish?”

“I want my grandma’s ring.” She growled. “The psycho bat refuses to hand it over. She knows I am stronger than her but won’t let it go. She thinks no one but her can take it. Fuck her.”

Vilis nodded and looked at Marcello. “And what will you give me if I let you go?”

“What?” Growled Angella. “You can’t just-”

“Who is the demon? Me or you?” The growled. “Now human, what will you give me in exchange for your life?”

Marcello was scared and betrayed. He didn’t want to die. But he wanted Angella to suffer for trying to kill him too. “Angella. You can have Angella, her grandma, and my virginity if you really want that.”

“Y-YOU CAN’T DO THAT!” Yelled Angella.

Vilis thought for a moment. “I have decided.” The demon’s body split in half revealing rows and rows of sharp teeth. It dropped Marcello and lunged at Angella. With a quick snap it bit the top half of her body leaving her legs and lower torso on the floor. It then reached up to the ceiling lets its fingers slip through the walls of the house till they both heard a strangled yelp off in the distance.

Marcello’s heart was racing. He had made a mistake. He tried to squirm out of his bindings. Vilis noticed him squirming and picked him up. He dragged him to Angella’s room and threw him on her bed. Marcello was shaking now. He was certain he was about to get raped by a demon.

Vilis chuckled and crawled over the top of him. Marcello squeezed his eyes shut as he felt something sharp slice his cheek and something warm and wet licking the wound. “The deal is done.”

“... Huh?” Vilis freed Marcello from his bindings and went to leave the room. “W-wait!” He called after the demon. “You’re not going to…”

Vilis shrugged and gestured to his pelvis. “The species of Vilis demons reproduce asexually. I have no equipment to rape a human unless I wanted to use my hands or tounge. But I honestly don’t give a shit right now. I personally prefer my food a little vile and used.”

“But I said you could take my virginity…”

“I took your blood. Your virgin blood.” They said. “It was pure and perfect and untainted… And I was the first one that got to taste it. Virginity means different things to different demons. For us in general it just means pure and untainted. That can mean everything from never having cum inside you to never using your body in a magic spell. Your virgin blood is enough for me.”

“...”

Vilis pointed down the hallway. “In the room back there… The old woman is dead. She has a ring. I suggest you take it.”

“W-why?” Marcello was frightened. 

The demon shrugged. “Angella wanted her grandma’s ring. Don’t you want to find out why?”

Marcello didn’t know what to do. He nervously followed the demon’s instructions and entered the grandmother’s room. She had an air tank strapped to her face and her body had been stabbed repeatedly. It was likely that this was the demon’s work. On one of her skeleton fingers there was a little ring that looked like it was made of bone with a clear gem set in it.

He reached out and took it from her. He wasn’t sure why he grabbed it from a corpse. This seemed wrong, but what was right in this situation? He quickly left the room and went to leave the house but was quickly stopped by Vilis calling out to him.

“You got potential there kid.” They called. Marcello froze with his hand on the doorknob. “I could tell when I looked at you. You have the makings of a great warlock if you feel like it.” There was a sickening crunch and he looked over to see the demon crunching on Angella’s leg. “Now get out of here. I got a lot of meat to eat.”

Marcello quickly ran from the house. They were terrified of what happened. Angella tried to kill him for some stupid ring? She summoned a demon to do it. She was willing to kill him. Then he turned around and did the same to her. Did this make him a bad person? And what about Vilis? What were they going to do now? They were a demon out on Earth. What was he going to do? 

That night he. When he got home, he couldn’t sleep. It all seemed surreal and strange. He started questioning everything that he knew. When he asked around school as to if anyone had seen Angella no one knew who he was talking about. Marcello went to her house and just found the collapsed foundations of an old shack. Vilis probably had something to do with this.

This sent Marcello down a rabbit hole. He had to know what happened. He wasn’t crazy. Angella was real. That demon thing was real. He needed to find out what was happening. He was quickly becoming obsessed with the occult, which upset and angered his parents.

They got into lots of verbal fights and his father did hit him a few times too. Spare the child and spoil the rod. He hated it, but it spurred him on to look deeper into the occult. He even started practicing magic on his own and he was good at it. Damn good at it.

He had been drifting away from the church and that enraged his parents. Marcello didn’t care. He didn’t want to join the church anymore. He had things to figure out. He had strange new worlds to discover. That’s all.

Then his parents kicked him out on his ass with nothing. Not even a penny to his name. All because he refused to work for the church. He didn’t care. He took what he could and left. They would never welcome him back no matter what. The only thing he was kind of upset about was leaving his younger siblings behind. But they would be fine. 

***

Through a series of unfortunate circumstances Marcello found himself at the doorstep of some rich woman’s house. It was apparently the home of a woman that many fae respected. She let him in and introduced herself as Lady Beatrice.

They had a strange relationship to say the least. Some days it was that of a mentor and student, others it was that of lovers. It was strange to him that she was okay with this relationship they fostered. He couldn’t say he loved her, but he did respect her and in some ways she respected him.

After a while of training him in the basic branches of magic she let him choose what branch he wished to follow. Marcello chose necromancy. Lady Beatrice was a little surprised, but was happy to let him have a go at it. As it turned out, Marcello was quite good at it

Then came the inevitable day that Lady Beatrice's body gave out on her. She became sickly and bedridden for the last few weeks of her life. Marcello was always attentive to her and stayed by her side in her final moments.

“Marcello…”

“Yes my lady?”

“Shut the fuck up.”

Marcello was stunned into silence. “Lady Beatrice?”

She just laughed at him and started to cough. “Ah, you really are a strange man, you know that right? You act like you care but we both know you don’t.”

“But I do care. I-”

Lady Beatrice slapped him hard. Stunning him into silence. “Listen here Marcello. You are not a good person. You’re a textbook psychopath. We both know what kind of man you are. You act all happy and content with life but in reality you actually enjoy being cruel. You enjoy being the one causing pain. A sadist. You enjoy being in control.”

“...” Marcello sighed and lightly touched his face. “Well… Yeah. True. If anything I’m more annoyed you’re on your deathbed and we can’t fuck anymore… Well we could, but necrophilia never appealed to me.”

The old woman laughed at that and sighed. “Yeah, I’d come back as a ghost and curse you if you did that to my body.”

“Yeah… Can I still use your bones for spells?”

“Of course.”

“Thanks.”

They were quiet for a bit before she spoke again. “You know why I took you in all those years ago? I saw potential. I saw an investment… Continue with your necromancy. Get stronger. Become more powerful. Become a god in the eyes of the fea around you. Make plans. Make your own investments.”

Marcello watched as the older woman’s eyes slipped shut for the last time and her chest fall with her last breath. “... Thank you Lady Beatrice. You crazy bitter old Druidess.”

***

Marcello quickly became well known through the magic community as the man who always got things done when no one else would. Through his dealings his reputation became mixed. Some groups loved him, some hated him, but all feared him. He was not someone to cross. He only gave people one chance and if they crossed him then they were as good as dead.

He didn’t mid of course. His reputation gave him a lot of leeway to do whatever the fuck he wanted. He used that to his advantage. For several decades Marcello became interested in demons and one specific branch caught his eye. A beautiful class of demons whose origin seemed to be a mystery to humanity. 

He wanted to figure out where they came from, why they came into being, and what could he do to use this information to his advantage. To do this he ended up spending the better part of two years learning a spell to take him back to their beginning. So he could be there and see it all for himself.

It worked too. Before he knew it he was there right in the middle of the chaos as it unfolded. Marcello hummed as he watched the chaos unfold on the streets below him. An entire city getting torn apart in holy hell fire raining down from the sky. He heard the screams. He saw the rivers of blood. He saw the mangled bodies of children and adults lining the streets. Not a single one was spared the righteous wrath that fell on them. He should have been horrified by what he saw, but he found that he couldn’t care less. This was just history.

“Having fun there?” Asked Bob as he sat on the edge of the building. “I hope you’re not thinking of doing something heroic again.” Once again the omnipresent deity of chaos was by his side again.

Marcello shook his head. “I learnt my lesson the last time I tried to change history. Who would have thought that most of the world would just go to shit the way it did if someone took a gun and popped a cap in baby Adolf’s head?”

“Probably no one.” Bob hummed a little as the people ran screaming through the streets only to be cut down by creatures with six blood red wings. “So what are you doing here in Gomorrah on its final day? Didn’t like the weather forecast in Sodom?” 

Marcello shrugged and walked around the roof. “Morbid curiosity. I know a lot about demons and fae, so I decided to look into the citizens of the heavenly realm. See how they and the demons teamed up to take down these sinful dens of debauchery. Sure I could go back earlier, but I wanted to see what kind of chaos they could cause. Thought I’d see how quickly they could level an entire city.”

“... This is why you’re not allowed to be a god.”

Marcello shrugged and looked over the edge. He saw one of these winged creatures from the heavenly realm. It was hunched over a body and shaking horribly. Marcello couldn’t help but grin when he saw the feathers starting to fall off till there was nothing left than six featherless wings. They looked grotesque and more like insect legs than actual wings. He watched the gross looking appendages slowly recede back into its body. 

The creature cried out like a banshee as the ivory plates that covered its body flaked off and fell away, leaving nothing but a human looking creature. It tore at the reflective flesh on the top of its head leaving nothing but bones that looked like horns. It was kind of beautiful to see something from such a holy place getting destroyed so easily.

The new creature dry heaved and whimpered. A random human ran past them to try and escape the bloodshed, but as soon as they got in arms distance the new creature lunged for them and ripped them to shreds. When they were done it grabbed a hunk of meat from the body and shoved it into the mouth of the closest angelic looking creature to undergo the same transformation.

Seeing this made it all click in Marcello’s mind. “Oh. That makes sense.”

Bob nodded. “Yep. Same thing is happening in Sodom… What are you thinking?” 

“Never you mind Bob.” He smiled a little and sat next to him. “Let’s just sit back and enjoy ourselves. It’s not every day you get to watch the birth of a demon species. The birth of the Sin-Eaters.”

***

A few months after confirming his theories about sin eaters he continued his investigation into the angels of the heavenly realms. His interests had led him to talking to the head of an ancient vampire coven in the city. He had wanted information about where vampires came from. He had heard some interpretations that they were angels that fell to gluttony.

Instead of offering him help the Vampire Lord tried to kill him. So Marcello slaughtered the entire group. Of course that didn’t turn out very well and Marcello almost completely lost himself to the power that his body couldn’t keep up with.

Once he had been saved and restored back to his humanity by Bob, Marcello decided to look into his family tree a little more. He looked to his siblings and if they had any children. He was most interested in his darling baby sister Rosa. Out of all of them he liked her the most. A very sweet girl. A sweet girl who had married and had five kids.

It was time for him to make an investment like Lady Beatrice had told him to do many years ago. With a smile he happily performed a few necromancy rituals to see who within that branch of his family had the post magical potential. Much to his surprise, it seemed to be the youngest of Rosa’s children. A young child named Lance. He was very young. Couldn’t have been more than fifteen but he was showing sparks of empath magic from what he could see.

Not a branch of magic he particularly liked, being a psychopath and all, but he could deal with it. Now was the time for Marcello to start making investments. Using his necromancy and his own natural skills as a manipulator it wasn’t difficult to do what he needed to do. Most of the time doubted he had done anything himself, until all the dominos fell into place. It was nice.

Then Bob came to visit. Marcello had never been too fond of the god to begin with. It always meant trouble, but he welcomed him with open arms. “Bob!” Said Marcello as he pulled him into a hug. “Long time no see! How have you been? How are you? Changed anything in reality that I should know about?”

Bob just laughed and walked into the house. “There’s lots to do and nothing at all when you become an all-powerful, all-knowing, inter-dimensional god. But that’s really neither here nor there. You dig?”

“Not in the slightest.”

“Fair enough.” Bob snapped his fingers and the two of them were in Marcello’s office.

Taking it in his stride, Marcello happily sat down at his desk and waved his hand to summon a chair for Bob. “I take it that this isn’t your typical catch up visit?”

“Ah, you were always too smart for your own good.” Bob happily sat down on the chair and took a deep breath. In an instant the atmosphere in the room changed from being more or less light hearted to dark and oppressive. “You need to stop.”

“Hmmm? Stop what?” Asked Marcello innocently. “My dear Bob I don’t know what you are talking about.”

“Don’t play dumb with me dumb-dumb.” Said Bob. “You know exactly what I am talking about. You’re meddling with forces you don’t quite understand and you’re making one of the big seven antsy.”

Marcello couldn’t help but laugh. “What? A little Warlock like me is making one of that lot nervous? That’s a riot.” A smirk quickly made its way across his face. “If little old me can scare what is essentially a god, maybe they should be scared. Am I close to knocking them off their pedestal?”

Bob rolled his eyes. “Wow, you really are a big dumb-dumb if you think this is funny. You keep doing what you’re doing and the big man is gonna send a lion after your dumb butt.”

“You know that... that actually makes a lot of sense. Kind of explains how I am going to die…”

“Oh?”

“Don’t worry about it. If you’re interested in it you can see it for yourself.”

“But where’s the fun in that?”

“True. Very true.” Marcello sighed and leaned back in his chair. “Oh well. It’s probably a coincidence anyway… So am I in trouble? Getting close to pushing something like a god off their platform and replacing them?”

Bob glared at him. “You don’t seem to be taking this seriously.”

“Yeah, but I don’t care. I’ve never cared, Bob. I don’t think I will start now. Besides, why would I want to be anything like one of those gods? If I ever became powerful enough to become a god I’d become my own god. I wouldn’t take the role of someone else. So you don’t need to worry about that Bob.”

“But you did become a god. Your own god.” Reminded Bob. “Even if you were insane you were still a god.”

Marcello shrugged. “Insane or not I want to be a god with some sanity.”

“You’re playing with fire.” Warned Bob. “If you’re planning to do what I think you’re planning you shouldn’t consider yourself human anymore.”

“What was that old Samuel Johnson quote?” Wondered Marcello out loud. “He who makes a beast out of himself gets rid of the pain of being a man.”

“...” Bob offered Marcello a sad smile of resignation. He knew the path Marcello was going to follow. It was like what he had said had set the future in stone. The being sighed and went to show themselves out. “Then I guess there’s no point in sticking around you any longer, huh Marcello? There is no reasoning with beasts like you.”

Marcello nodded in agreement. “You would be wasting your breath on a beast like me.”

***

The time had come. The day of Marcello’s preordained death. More of an inconvenience than anything else really. He had spent most of his morning in the basement putting his plan into action. If all went well then his nephew would play his part perfectly like the pawn he was.

He placed the summoning book on the pedestal and left it on the page to summon a sin-eater. He then made every other symbol on the summoning circle a variation of a sin-eater sigile. There was no way his nephew could mess this us. He had the power of probability on his side. 

The most complicated part with when he tried to anchor his soul down to an object. It wasn’t too difficult for him to choose an object. The ring on his finger was already attached to him. It was a thing of beauty really. He really should have thanked Angella’s grandmother for the gift. He doubted she knew the power this ring held. That was the most stressful and annoying part, but he managed it. Once his life was snuffed out he could hide within the ring indefinitely until the final stage of his plan.

When he was done a readjusted the bandage on his hand and sighed a little at the bloodied stump where his finger used to be. Not his proudest moment, but it was all part of the plan. There was only one thing he needed to do now.

There was a knock at the door and Marcello went to answer it. He was kind of excited to see who was going to kill him. He didn’t really know how he was going to die he just knew the person knocking at his door would do it. Would it be quick? Would it be slow? Would he suffer? He didn’t know.

He opened the door and was surprised to see Shiro. A frequent visitor to his estate. A kind Manticor. A rarity among his kind. He smiled brightly at him. His personal angel of death. He often came by to drop off his past lover’s skull. He couldn’t carrier that around with him. “Hey there Shiro. What can I do for you?”

***

Now it was the waiting game. The most boring and annoying thing possible. He sat there and waited… and waited… and waited… Then there was warmth. Someone was handling the ring. They put it on and a strange wave a calm washed over him. Who was this person? 

It took a little while for the ring to attune to its new host and therefore a while for Marcello to figure out it was actually his nephew in possession of the ring. He could kind of get a general understanding of what was going on; Lance might have been an empath but he was shit at magic, he made contact with the Marmora coven, and he had developed romantic feelings towards the sin-eater he had summoned. 

That made him chuckle a little. It was adorable how much Lance cared about the sin-eater. Ah to be young and stupid again. But after a while Marcello wanted to strangle Lance. It was like he was being forced to watch a shitty teen drama. Hell, he was ready to try and figure out how to manifest himself and scream at Lance to just fuck the demon already, but thankfully Sendak killed him before he had to.

Marcello had to admit it was a rather clean kill. Severed right through several main arteries. He bled out in seconds. So now… Now there was this. As Lance’s life left his body Marcello was able to use what was left of his magic tor grab it and pull it into the ring.

This was good because they were able to talk face to face. However getting murdered in such a sudden and brutal way had traumatized Lance and now he was in the foetal position, crying. It was annoying, but Marcello just let him do his thing since he did just die.

He waited for about ten minutes before he lightly nudged Lance with his foot. “Okay. Enough crying. You died. Get over it. Everyone dies in the end. Stand up.” Lance sniffled and slowly looked up at him. Marcello frowned and crouched down so they were eye level. “Huh… Your eyes are really blue.”

“... Are you Marcello?”

“Yep and you’re my nephew. Welcome to the land of the dead.”

“Land of the… Keith!” Lance quickly stood up and looked around. There wasn’t much to see in the practically endless void of nothingness inside the ring. “Shit! How do I get out of here? Where the fuck are we? Shit are we back in the astral plane? I don’t want to see those things again!”

“Ah, so you’ve met the astral hosts? That’s interesting… Anyway, your soul is stuck within the ring, just like my soul… It’s probably because of some spell I did. Didn’t turn out too well. Now it’s just grabbing souls left and right. My bad.”

“Okay, stuck in a ring fun… How do I get back? How am I meant to get out of here?” Asked Lance. “Keith needs me! My friends need me! I have to save them! And I… I fucked everything! Everything is a mess because it’s my fault!”

“Yeah, you really should get on that.” Marcello yawned a little and stretched. “You should really get on that… But you do know healing magic, right? Like the kind strong enough to heal massive internal and external injury? You kind of told your boyfriend to eat your corpse. How much do you think he left?”

“...” Lance started to break down again. His body was shaking as he fell back to his knees. “I-I can’t do this! I’m too weak! I’m too stupid! What do I do? What do I do?”

Marcello shrugged and sat next to him. “What do you do? Well if I am being honest you rely on others too much and then when shit doesn’t work you scramble for help when you don’t need it. You’re too worried about others. An empath’s greatest weakness and strength… Other people.” 

“Shut up!” Snapped Lance. “I have no idea what I am meant to do! I haven’t even seen witches or anyone really using magic before! I live in a fucking house where I have to try and do everything myself and it isn’t working It never fucking worked and now… Fuck, Now I’m dead… I failed everyone...”

That was just what Marcello needed to hear. A poor soul in the depths of despair with a desperate need to live. Not for their own sake but for the sake of others. Take to cash in on his investment. “Okay. Let’s make a deal.”

“Huh?”

Marcello smiled at Lance and held out his hand. “Look, you want out and I can help with that. Your corpse is still fresh. If I send your soul back you would only live for a second before you die. I on the other hand I am a necromancer. I’ve lived through getting half my brain scraped across half a mile of road. Getting eaten alive is nothing. With your permission I’ll go back first. I’ll heal your body, show you a few magic tricks that only a necromancer can do, and then I’ll let you back in.”

Lance seemed sceptical. “Really?”

Marcellow nodded. “Of course. Honestly as long as Haggar’s shitty coven is getting fucked up I’m happy. Plus I don’t need to deal with the romance drama between you and a demon… Also, when you two eventually do it I recommend lots of lube.”

“Oh my god…”

“Also, demons have a ridiculous amount of stamina. You’ll probably pass out long before he’s done fucking you.”

Lance made a distressed noise and hid his face in his hands. “Stop it…”

Marcello shrugged. “Just trying to give you some life advice. I do have a lot of experience with having sex with demons… Anyway, do we have a deal?”

“...”

***

With a jolt he opened his eyes and tried to gasp for air, but he couldn’t. Touching his neck he felt a large gaping wound. It was to be expected. Looking down at themselves their torso didn’t fare much better either. Keith must love entrails. 

Speaking of Keith, he looked over to where the demon boy was only to see him and Sendak sliding across the floor. For a brief moment they paused to look at them. They looked beautiful with their wings spread as wide as they did. All six were bright red and glorious. Just like his ancestors. It made him smile. He’d talk to Keith later once he’s got his throat back.

He started to wander away from them and back to the room where everyone else was still fighting the other witches. Fresh kills would make it easier for him to heal the damage Keith had done to this body.

He cracked a smile at that thought as he took the walkman out of his pocket and put the headphones on. This body. His body. Lance was a good person but much too trusting and easily lead astray when in a panic. Marcello should have felt bad about using him to get a younger body, but if he was honest with himself he wasn’t. Lance was an adult now and should have known better than to trust strangers.


	51. Meat suit

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just Marcello being a dick while everyone else is trying to figure out what the fuck is going on. Kudos and comment when you can. Enjoy :D

Fighting the witches was becoming exhausting. For every one Shiro managed to crush there were three more. It was becoming difficult to keep Pidge and Hunk safe. Allura was having a better time. She was apparently extremely strong and was picking up random bits of debris and throwing it at them. She had knocked out at least five of them and maybe killed about seven.

Still it wasn’t good. He felt something hit his tail. His hide was thick so it didn’t cut through him, but it was practically a bludgeoning blow. It would have probably broken several bones if he got hit anywhere else. He wished he had his wing. It would have been so much easier to do this. Where the hell was Keith?

Without warning the doors of branching off one of the rooms with extreme force. One landed on a witch, turning them into a bloodstain on the ground, while the other became embedded in the wall. Though the shock of the doors getting ripped off their hinges was quickly overshadowed by the shock of what could only be described as a blood serpent burst through the door. It quickly devoured every witch in the room along with the remaining bodies. It was almost like a sponge, absorbing all the blood in its wake adding onto its own bloody mass. When there were no more witches or bodies to take the thing crashed through a door and quickly left leaving everyone standing their slack jawed.

“What the actual fuck just happened?” Asked Pidge.

“Blood snake killed the witches.” Said Hunk. “Pretty sure we established that weird magic was a thing that happens here by now.”

“Well yeah but a fucking blood snake? Who the fuck summoned that? Did a witch knock something over and that thing crawled out?”

There was a sudden rush of wind and a flash or red and white as a creature with six red wings flew into the room. It took a moment for Shiro to register what was before them, but when he realised what it was he tensed up and quickly put himself between them and this winged beast.

“What do you want angel?” He growled. He had no idea why there was an angel trapped in here, but he knew enough to know that it would probably try and attack them.

“Wait, that’s an angel?” Asked Pidge. “Why is there one here?”

“We fucked up really bad didn’t we?” Asked Hunk. “If there’s an angel here that means we are all royally screwed, right?”

The angel paused for a moment before it landed. “Guys. It’s me. Keith.”

Shiro was taken aback. “Keith?” He cautiously approached the angel and sniffed the air around it. It certainly had Keith’s scent. It had to have been him. It couldn’t have been anyone else. “... How? How are you an angel?”

Keith shrugged. “I have no idea. I mean, magic shit is weird… And this is weird but it also feels natural? I don’t know... I just… I got cut up really badly by Sendak and Lance tried to save me but then he died and-”

“Wait, Lance is dead?!” Cried Pidge.

Keith nodded. “Yes… He died in my arms and his last order to me was to eat him and get away… This is what happened what I ate him. It was a selfless sacrifice, but when I went to get his body after I killed Sendak, he was gone. Like, I know I didn’t eat all of him, so there had to have been some of him left over but there was nothing. Just a puddle. Did he… did he come through here?”

“Nothing but a blood snake.” Said Hunk. “Big blood snake that kind of just… It sucked up everything. Scary as heck.”

Keith nodded a little and looked around. “... The whole room is spotless. It’s like there was no one died in here…”

“Yeah, it kind of did suck up everyone.” Said Pidge. “Why do you think it left us alone?”

Allura suddenly became extremely concerned. “... Lance is missing… A serpent came out of the room that Lance ran into… Call me crazy but do you think maybe suddenly getting murdered might have unlocked some kind of empath power?”

“How would that even work?” Asked Hunk.

“Sometimes an empath needs a traumatic event to really kick their magic into gear. I don’t know what’s more traumatic than dying.”

“Shouldn’t you be able to tell where Lance is?” Asked Shiro. “Keith, he summoned you. Out of all of us you have the strongest bond to him. Summoned demons have to be able to track and find their Summoners if the get separated.”

“Oh… I guess you’re right… How do I do that?”

Shiro shrugged. “It’s just something you can do. I don’t know how it works.”

“I can help.” Said Allura. She walked over to Keith, but did seem kind of worried. “So… Just give me your hands and I can talk you through it.” Keith was a little skeptical, but he did as he was told and held her hands. “Close your eyes.” She instructed. “Clear your head and think of Lance. Your natural instincts and attachment to the one that Summoned you will lead you to him.”

Keith sighed and tried to do as he was told and tried to figure out where Lance was. He didn’t know if he was dead or alive. He felt like Lance had to be alive somehow. He had to be. He would find Lance soon. He knew he would. He...

“I found him.”

***

After slaughtering his way through his third room, Marcello stopped using their blood and guts serpent to get around. Sure it was fun for shock value, but not really the easiest magic to pull off when getting used to a new body. He sighed a little and checked himself; skin back on his torso, some scratch marks too, but they were scabbing over. It felt like most of his organs were back to normal too. Perfect. He only had to slaughter about fifty witches to get this body back to normal.

He coughed a little to clear his throat, coughing out a massive blood clot. “Ergh… Do-re-mi-fa-so-la-ti-do… Do-ti-la-so-fa-mi-re-do… For fuck’s sake, I sound like my squeaky voiced nephew. Fuck… Argh, guess it’s to be expected. His voice. His vocal chords… Then again that is useful…”

He smiled a little to himself as he walked into a different room and fiddled with the walkman. He was getting a little bit of feedback. The cassette had to be around here somewhere. It made him grin. The thought of finding it again filled him with such joy. Though next time he was going to put his cassette somewhere less witchy.

He turned a corner in the maze and immediately the walkman started making a wild static noise. Marcello did wonder what kind of sound would be recorded on the cassette when he used it to purge all that excess energy. It was meant to be a reflection of his own innermost demons so to speak.

He looked up from the walkman and almost fell down a chasm. The architecture deeper and deeper in the maze was something else. He would have to find another way, but he could tell he was close.

He backtracked and took another path. He did love it when a plan came together. Only he could have come up with something to perfect. He really was amazing when it came to plans. Was he a narcissist? Probably, but he didn’t really care. Too many labels. Too many labels.”

With a smile Marcello walked into a room where a few witches were standing around. He grinned at them and cracked his knuckles. “Hey there guys. How’s your health insurance?” One of them threw a knife at him. Marcello caught it in mid air and threw it back at them, cutting into their neck and sending arterial spray everywhere. “Apparently it’s great! Celero!”

What happened next was like something out of a science fiction novel. Time ground to a crawl and Marcello easily started to pick off the remaining witches. He pulled the knife out of the neck out of the first witch and got creative with the remaining ones. Some got their throats slit, others got their eyes gouged out, tongues were removed, bodies were stabbed, and some were completely eviscerated.

When he was satisfied with his work, Marcello sat back in one of the chairs in the room and grinned. “Ut aliquam.”

The world around him quickly started to catch up with him, or maybe the world was slowing down? Either way he didn’t care. When everything was back in sync, blood started exploding from bodies in the most visceral of ways. It was glorious to be welcomed back into the world with a baptism of blood.

He got up and was about to leave the room when he suddenly had a very wicked idea. Lance’s friends were the loyal sort. Not the kind that would give up on him… They would probably come after him to try and help him. He probably should have looked a little more into the future for this, but no. He was a bit of a fool in that regard. Didn’t matter he could wing it.

He looked through the bodies and found one of silimar height and build as he was now. Still nice and warm. Marcello grinned and stuck his thumbs into the corpse’s mouth to make it grin back at him in a gruesome sort of way.

“Well aren’t you a pretty corpse.” He cooed. “If you were still alive I’d have probably fucked your brains out, or at least fucked your throat until it was raw and bleeding… Alas it was not meant to be. We are but start crossed lovers. Two ships passing in the dead of night… and all that other poetic bullshit.”

***

Keith knew Lance was close. He could feel it. The same pull he felt when Lance actually gave him a proper order. It was like he was a piece of metal being drawn to a magnet. But as they walked he could tell everyone around him was uneasy. Normally he wouldn’t have noticed or even really cared, but now he could feel it. It was like eating Lance had made him more empathetic. He hoped it wouldn’t last.

“So…” Said Hunk slowly.

“Yeah?” 

“What are your wings?” He asked. “Like, they look like bird wings when they are stretched out, but when they’re all folded up it’s like you’re wearing a cloak or something.”

Keith looked down at himself. His wings were indeed wrapped around his body in an almost protective manner. “Oh… I didn’t even notice.” 

Pidge frowned a little and poked the feathers. “These things look more like fleshy scales too. Not like actual feathers.”

“That’s because they are both part of an angels respiratory and digestive system.” Chimed in Allura. “Most angels in the heavenly realm that have wings have no room for lungs or a proper digestive system because they need all the muscles they can to fly.”

“So they are like solar panels?” Asked Pidge. “Angels photosynthesize?”

“Some do, but they can also eat food. Their digestive system is much smaller than most animals of their size.” Said Allura. “Angels are kind of a mystery. They don’t come to earth often but it’s never good when they do…”

Keith rolled his eyes. “Cut me some slack. I have no idea why I’m apparently an angel. What the hell does it matter anyway? We need to find Lance. He’s around here somewhere. I know he is.” They came to a door and Keith gently pressed his hand against it. Lance was there. Just beyond that door. “He’s here...”

They the room. It was completely splattered with blood and random body parts. Standing in the middle of it all was indeed Lance. He was bent over and panting heavily. It seemed like he was out of breath. He wheezed, hacked and groaned. “Ow… Ow, ow, pain… Okay this hurts more than I remember it did. Shit, shit, I’m gonna puke. Gonna… okay. All good now.”

“Lance!” Keith quickly ran to him, but stopped dead in his tracks when he saw Lance’s eyes. They were no longer that familiar ocean blue. They were a vibrant acid green. “... You’re not Lance.”

“What are you talking about?” Called Hunk. “What do you mean that’s not Lance?”

Not Lance frowned slightly and looked Keith up and down. “... And you don’t exactly look like Keith either, but are we really going to argue the minor details at the moment?”

Keith lunged forward at them and grabbed them by the throat, holding them in the air. “Who are you?” He growled. “Where is Lance?”

“Keith!” Called out his friends in shock.

Not Lance yelped and struggled a little. “Air! Need air to breathe! Feet on floor! Please!”

“He needs to breathe!” Said Allura. “Please Keith, put him down so we can sort this out!”

Keith growled and moved not Lance so he was standing on the ground, but pinned him against the wall. “Who are you?”

“Marcello McClain at your service.” They said.

“... Where the fuck is Lance?”

“He’s taking a backseat for the moment. Kind of a good thing too. He doesn’t have the mental, physical or magical energy to fix the giant fucking wound in his stomach that you kind hollowed out of him.” Said Marcello. “Seriously, there is half a kidney in here, no liver, ninety perfect of his digestive tract is gone, you did kind of take a bite out of his bladder, and that’s not even mentioning the skin. Like, I managed to fix the skin, but the organs are taking some time.”

“... To be fair he told me to eat him.”

“And now you’re some kind of celestial, six winged, soldier boy.” Said Marcello. “Look we should probably keep moving. There’s still a bunch of witches around, I’m still healing, and I have so much shit to steal before the night is done. I mean, this plan took fucking years to come up with. Granted I could have always put the cassette in my house somewhere and saved myself this little headache, but hey, Lance needed to get murdered somehow. Am I right?”

Keith stared at Marcello in shock before he slammed his body against the wall again. “What the fuck do you mean Lance had to get murdered? What the fuck are you talking about?”

Marcello just laughed. “Well I had to kick him out of the driver’s seat somehow. Murder usually works for these sorts of things. Didn’t expect this was how he was going to die, but a death is a death and you can’t keep a good necromancer down. But then again, is there ever really a good necromancer? Doubt it.”

Shrio growled at him. “There’s no way you set this all up. It’s all too random. You couldn’t have-”

“Oh but I did!” Said Marcello with almost childish glee. “Does no one ever remember that necromancers see the fucking future? I set this all up. I studied my family for years to decide who was going to get my house. I left Kolivan those instructions in my will. I left the Summoners book on the page to summon a Sin-Eater. I’ve been slowly guiding Lance on his own magical journey to this point. I’ve let him know enough magic to be useful to me, but not enough to ever be fully confident or understand what is happening so that when he died he’d let me take control and I could lock him out.”

Keith could feel his blood boiling. He grabbed Marcello by the throat and threw him to the ground, immediately jumping on top of him. “WHY?!” He screamed. “WHY DID YOU DO THIS? WHY DID YOU GET LANCE KILLED?! WHY DID YOU LOCK HIM OUT?!”

Marcello didn’t seem phased by Keith throwing him around. He just giggled. “Oh wow. You’re a feisty one. I can see why Lance likes you. I’d be getting a raging boner for you myself if I had enough blood to actually get a boner at the moment that is.”

“TAKE THIS SERIOUSLY!”

“Oh fine. Way to ruin my fun.” Grumbled Marcello. “You want the fucking truth? Here’s the fucking truth. I don’t want to die. No one wants to die. Even most people that commit suicide have second thoughts before or during their attempts. On that day when I turned into a fucking god and Bob... Fucking Bob locked me out of that ability. Saying my mind was perfect but my body was too old I decided to make my move. I found a blood relative with a body attuned to magic. Sure is was a fucking empath, but it was still magic and I used it. I made an investment.”

“He was you pack.” Growled Keith. “How could you just use your pack like that?”

“Because I don’t have a fucking pack.” Growled Marcello. “My parents made that fucking clear when they kicked me out on my ass because I dared question them. Is that what a pack does? Do they just abandon you? I don’t have a pack. I just have spare bodies. Organ bank’s. Investments… And if this body does work out I have the rest of my nieces and nephews to work through before I start on my grand nieces and nephews! They fucking breed like vermin!”

“You’re going to put your soul in other people forever?” Asked Pidge in shock. “That’s just… What the fuck?”

Marcello scoffed. “That’s fucking stupid. If this all works out all I’ll need is this body.”

“You can’t have Lance’s body.” Growled Keith. “Get the fuck out of him right now.”

“Oh come now Keith you don’t have to be that mean to me. I have the face of the man you love the most don’t I? You can’t hurt me without hurting Lance’s body.”

Keith hated this. Marcello was right in a sick way. “Why me?”

“Hmm?”

“Why me? Why did you make Lance summon a Sin-eater? Why did I have to be here?”

Marcello shrugged. “I’ve always wanted to have a pet angel. Then again, when my plan is finished I could technically have a whole flock of you feathered fucks at my beck and call. In fact, any minute now I should have enough power to do that. I am just stalling you after all.” The anxiety in the room quickly spiked as everyone shared scared and worried looks with each other. That just made Marcello laugh. “What? You seriously thought I would actually be standing around here and talking with you? I’m a fucking necromancer and I am a master at illusions. You really think I’d be here in person? I have dozens of corpses around here with my face and voice just to stall everyone here while I’m off doing my own thing. Just try and fucking stop me you shitty angel.”

He snapped his fingers and the illusion around his body vanished. Keith had been violently man handling the mangled corpse of a witch the whole time. He dropped it and took a step back. “... We need to get to Lance. Now.”


	52. Falling like dominos

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Argh, when I was thinking of what song could possibly be on the cassette three songs came to mind and I just couldn't choose. But these were the three;
> 
> Labyrinth- Oomph (German band)  
Demon Heart- Luca Turilli  
Murder song- Scum of the Earth 
> 
> Feel free to look them up if you like, though fair warning, murder song is pretty explicit so listen to that with caution. Anyway, Marcello's still an asshole. But everyone's doing their best, even if it seems a little hopeless at the moment :P
> 
> Kudos and comment when you can. Enjoy :D

Marcello was having one hell of a time trying to get to the right room. He knew he was close, the walkman was going crazy in his ears. He had no idea how he was meant to get to it. When he actually found the door he was meant to go through there was a hex on it keeping it closed. It was annoying.

“Why does this always happen?” He whined to no one. He paced around in front of the door before he stopped. This whole maze looked like his house… And he did make the object of power that created this maze… It was possible… Marcello put his hand against the wall and glared at it. “Take me to my cassette. Make a door that will take me there. Now.” Nothing happened. “... Please?”

A door suddenly opened up next to the hexed door. Marcello patted the wall and happily walked in. He was a little surprised that it worked. If he’d have known that the maze would do that for him he would have done it right at the start. Live and learn.

He happily pushed the door open and walked in. The room was bathed in a much colder blue light than the rest of the rooms. Though everything seemed to be quite abstract. Pipes were sticking out of random places. Vases were embedded in the walls, corners were sticking out in odd places. Everything looked like it was glitched out.

In the center of it all was the cassette. It was just floating there on top of a very tall, thin pyramid. It probably would have been considered a spear if it was any thinner. Either way Marcello was happy.

He started to walk over towards it when a chill ran up his spine. Someone else was here. He paused and looked towards the shadows. There was someone standing there. He grinned at them and calmly gestured for them to step out of the shadows. He had a very good idea who this was, and he was right.

It was Haggar and she looked pissed. Not that Marcello could blame her. He kind of did go ham when it came to slaughtering the witches in her coven. He didn’t know how many he left to kill, but he was sure it wasn’t too many.

“Lance McClain… I see you know some basic blood magic.”

The man just nodded. “Mmmhmmm.” So she still thought he was Lance? Reasonable, but still kind of funny.

“Not much of a talker, are you?” She raised her hand and the sound of pipes started to rattle all around them in the walls. ‘Well that’s a major improvement from Marcello. Now let’s see if you can die better than that bastard warlock too.” 

Marcello couldn’t help but grin and whisper under his breath. “Geminus.”

With a flick of her wrist dozens of broken pipes broke through the walls and pierced Lance’s body several dozens of times. He immediately slumped over and stopped moving. It made her laugh as she approached him. “Yep. You’re a little harder to kill than Marcello, but you still die easier than him.”

However, when she got closer the body mangled in the pipes slowly shifted its features. Haggar gasped in horror when she realised that the person in the pipes was the already mangled body of a long dead member of her coven. This warlock could use effective illusion magic too?

A twisted laugh echoed through the room that chilled Haggar to her soul. She felt a hand on her shoulder and she froze in fear. “You finally had the chance to stick it in me, and you shoved it in the wrong hole.”

She spun around but there was nothing there. “Where the hell are you, you bastard?” She screeched.

That just made the disembodied voice laugh more. “Oh come now Haggar. You really think calling me names is going to do anything? People have called me so much worse. Get creative for once.”

“... Come out and face me you coward!”

“You really want me to come out and face you? Well, alright. You’re the one that wanted this.” The shadows in the room squirmed and writhed around. It quickly formed into a shape and rose up into a human form. 

Haggar was ready to take him down with another pipe attack, but before she could she felt something grab her and throw her to the floor. She yelped in surprise and looked up at the man in question. He was grinning down at her with crazy eyes. The way he carried himself was scarily familiar to her.

“Really?” He asked. “You fell for a simple illusion twice? What kind of warlock do you take me for? You gotta give me a little more credit than that. I mean, I might look a little younger, but I’m still the same where it counts. I’m that sass from your past with that twink ass.”

“W-what?”

He laughed. “Wow, I really have to spell it out for you huh? Age has really fucked with your head.” He grinned at her and let her get a really good look at his face. “When you try to kill someone by sending a fucking Manticore after them, you better fucking make sure that they aren’t the most powerful fucking necromancer in the fucking world! You crusty, old, bitch!”

“M-Marcello?” She looked stunned. Like she couldn’t believe he was still alive. 

“HA! Nailed it on the head!” Marcello took a step back and did a quick spin. “Don’t I look hot in this new bod? Pretty sure I look damn fine like this. It’s a nice upgrade.”

“... So what? You going to kill me now?”

“Kill you?” Marcello laughed. “Why the fuck would I want to kill you of all people? You’ve been a fucking thorn in my side for years. I don’t want you to die. I want you to fucking suffer like the parasite you fucking are you withered old cunt.” 

Haggar looked visibly shaken at his words. Good. It made him smile. “You… Just because I’m old doesn’t mean you can win. You’re just a monster. Taking over and possessing your nephew’s body like that…”

Marcello did his best to hold back his own laughter. “You’re lecturing me on how to treat family? That’s rich. Real rich.” He pretended to wipe away tears of laughter. “I know all about the bullshit you’ve gone through with your son. Little Lotor, all sad and confused growing up. Mummy and daddy were always too busy to spend any time with him. Had to be raised by a nanny. Not that I am knocking what they do, but seriously, even my parents were there for me growing up.”

“You leave my son out of this.” She growled. She was getting angry. Good. She should be. “How do you even know about him?

“Can you even call him your son?” Asked Marcello. “You’ve been on my shit list for years. I keep receipts… And that’s not even talking about what you did to Zarkon. You crazy psycho bitch.”

“I haven’t don’t anything to Zarkon he-!”

Marcello grabbed her face and slammed her into a wall. He was done with her bullshit. “Okay. I’m bored now. Shit has been fun but I really, really hate people that don’t own up to their own bullshit. So I am going to help you.” He smiled sweetly at her. “I’m going to help fix your mental trauma so you can see how much of a terrible person you are, Honerva.”

***

Keith could tell Lance was close, or Marcello, or whatever he was. He just knew he was close and he needed to help him. He needed to save him. How was he going to save him? He had no idea. Maybe he could just knock him out and they could figure that out later? He wasn’t sure.

“What way now Pidge?” Asked Shiro.

“Um… I don’t know.” She admitted. 

“What do you mean you don’t know?” Growled Keith.

“Hey, I’ve mapped out most of this place. This is the only place I haven’t mapped out ye-” The ground started to shake and tremble. Everything slowly started to shift and close in on itself. “What the fuck?!”

“The illusion!” Said Allura. “Whatever created the illusion has finally been broken. The maze is disappearing. It no longer exists.”

The walls and floors slowly shifted and became more and more opaque until they were completely gone. They were just standing in a normal looking room filled with old boxes and the bloody bodies of witches. It was hard to think that the maze was as large as they felt it was to begin with when the room it was in was as small as it was.

Standing off to one side was Marcello and a witch. The witch was crouched on the floor and rocking back and forth while muttering things under her breath. While she was doing this Marcello was just laughing and happily sitting on a box as he was listening to his walkman.

“YOU!” Yelled Keith.

Marcello looked over at him and grinned. “Oh hey there angel boy. Can you give me like ten seconds? My song is almost over.” Keith lunged at him and Marcello quickly ducked out of the way. “Guess not. Rude much?” Keith growled and tried to grab him again but Marcello just slipped out of his grasp and taunting him. “Missed me cutie.”

“FUCK YOU!”

“Hmm, maybe later hot stuff. Never had hate sex with an angel before.” He purred. 

That just pissed Keith off even more. It pissed him off that Marcello was using Lance’s body and his voice like that. It was disgusting. He wanted to rip Marcello out of Lance’s body and throw it into a fire. If only he could actually grab him.

“SHUT THE FUCK UP AND GET OVER HERE!”

“But I don’t wanna!” Whined Marcello. Suddenly he stopped and he had a slightly shocked expression on his face. Keith saw his chance and tried to grab him, but before he could Marcello waved his hand and created a magical barrier between them. Keith crashed into it and crumbled to the ground. It was like he’d thrown into a wall. “Oh, my song is over.”

Marcello took his headphones off and crushed the walkman in his hand before he dropped it and crushed it under his foot. The air in the room seemed to drop a few degrees as the tension and anxiety started to rise.

“W-what’s happening?” Asked Hunk.

Keith gulped. “No… no, no, no, no, no, you can’t do this! You can’t do this Marcello! You fucking can’t! What the fuck?! Stop it! Stop it now!” He felt like he was going to have a panic attack.

Marcello pouted and put his hand on the barrier. “Aw, you all worried? Don’t be. I learnt my lesson last time my dear angel. I’m going to be a little more cautious before I unleash any godlike powers. I want to reinforce this body just a little with something a little sturdy… Something with roughly around… Four thousand, five hundred and twenty trillion bones should do… Minus this one of course.” He happily wiggled his fingers showing off his ring. “Be back in a minute. Wait for me my sweet angel.”

“Marcello… Don’t you dare…” Growled Keith. He was going to murder Marcello. Just rip his soul out and set it on fire, but even that would be too good for him.

The warlock just pouted. “I don’t like your attitude. You need to cool down. I’m going for a walk.” He waved his hand and a large chunk of the floor opened up. “I’ll be back in a few. Don’t you lovelies go anywhere. Bye.” He jumped down the hole and the floor closed up over him and the barrier was gone.

“... FUCK!” Yelled Keith.

“Where could he have gone?” Asked Allura. “Logically he went down but this whole place is magic so where could he have gone?”

“Cells…” Mumbled the witch.

They turned their attention to her. She wasn’t freaking out as much and appeared to have calmed down somewhat. She stood up and looked over at the group. She looked tired. Very tired. “He’s gone down to the cells to get to the Key.”

“Haggar…” Growled Shiro. He looked ready to rip into her.

“Um, that’s Honerva.” Said Pidge. “Yeah, definitely Honerva.”

“Does she have a twin?” Asked Hunk.

Honerva shook her head. “Haggar was more of a persona that manifested itself after decades of the mental and physical torture that came with keeping this coven together.”

Keith glared at her. “You’re still the one that took Shiro’s wings and his arm. You’re going to pay for that.”

“At the moment I’m worth more to you alive than dead.” She hissed. “Marcello is insane. He’s never cared about anyone or anything other than himself. He’d only help someone for some kind of personal gain… What exactly happened?”

Keith was reluctant to trust her, but she might be able to help or at least stop him. “Marcello got Lance killed so he could move in and take his body. Is there a chance we could get his soul back into his body?”

Honerva thought for a moment. “Yes… I see… Very sneaky.” She walked over to a box and quickly looked through it.

“So what happened to Lance?” Asked Allura.

“Marcello’s gone and done a soul transference.” Said Honerva calmly. “When a body dies there is a small window of opportunity where another soul can slip in and take control. If not the body is left an empty shell and they will either rot or a necromancer will come in and puppet it. With the spell Marcello used it’s one of the stronger ones. Kind of nasty though.”

“How?” Asked Pidge.

She glanced over at Pidge and sighed. “Look, it’s not nice. The soul of the previous body will still linger for about a day. This is to help completely solidify the new soul into its new body. I don’t do necromancy so I don’t know the big details. But Lance is still there in his body. He can still see, hear, and feel what is going on, but he’ll be gone soon. If you want Lance back you have to get Marcello out.”

“And how do we do that?” Asked Allura.

Honerva took out a box and opened it. “With this.” She opened the box to show off several large syringes filled with a bright orange liquid and several empty ones. “If you manage to inject him with one of these his body will reject the new soul in a rather violent manner. But the new soul will be rejected and the old soul will take control again.”

Keith took the box off of her and looked down at the syringes. They needed to do this. They had to save Lance. “Okay, but why are you helping us?”

She shrugged. “This coven has done nothing but poison me and my husband. I was blinded by my hatred towards the people that first took our lives and took the first opportunity for revenge I could. It was petty and stupid. I should have just died right there… Maybe it can help me atone in part for all the pain I have done for Diabazaal? I don’t know… I just know Marcello should not have that much power. Ever.”

“... Well what was your plan?” Asked Keith. “Why did you want to do all this in the first place?”

“Diabazaal wanted to come to earth to conquer it. He can’t do it unless a hell gate is open.” Said Honerva. “He had his own revenge to deal with. I didn’t care as long as he gave me mine, and he did.”

Shiro was growling at her. His hatred for the woman that mutilated him was vast and unrelenting, it almost looked like he was going to go into another rage. Thankfully he managed to calm himself. “This doesn’t even begin to atone for what you’ve done… We need to come up with a plan.”

Keith frowned as he looked down at the box. He had an idea. If it didn’t work they would be screwed, but he figured it would be their best shot. “Okay… I have an idea. It’s going to sound crazy, but right at the moment we are kind of fighting crazy right now… A crazy that could gain god level powers at any moment… Hopefully this will work.”

***

Marcello was on cloud nine at the moment. Everything was coming up roses. He got to hurt Haggar. He got to hurt Lance’s friends. He got to kill a bunch of witches too. That was always fun. Now he’d listened to his cassette and had technically gained all his powers back, but he was serious when he told Keith he was going to be cautious.

The last thing he needed was to be premature and blow his load and miss the money shot. He could be patient. He knew what to do. He just had to pace himself. Pacing was good. He could do it.

As he walked through the empty halls of the prison he couldn’t help but grin. He could hear things moving behind the walls and behind the closed doors. Whatever undead were still there seemed to be scared of him. Good. They should be scared of him. He himself was almost scared of the power he had in his fingertips right now.

He continued to walk until he got to a large door that looked more like a vault door than a prison door. Perfect. He smiled and put his hand against the door. Behind it was the Key. A beast so wonderfully powerful and strong his body would definitely be able to hold everything in.

He felt his finger tingle a little and he looked down at the ring. The little gem stone in it was flickering. It was going back and forth between red and blue. Marcello couldn’t help but chuckle. Maybe Lance was trying to fight back and take control again? It was a cute effort, but a waste. He just needed to give up and drift off into the astral plane.

He heard footsteps walking towards him and he glanced over towards a few people. A tall man with long silver hair and four women. He couldn’t help be grin. “Ooh it’s the lesbian squad and their feminine leader, the king of the lesbians. How’s it hanging Lotor?”

Lotor rolled his eyes. “I take it you are Marcello?”

“In my nephew’s flesh.” He chuckled a little and glanced down at his nails. “You have any idea how many bad touch jokes and unintentional incest jokes I could make right now? Shit like; wow, I’ve never been this deep inside a young boy before. My nephew really fits me like a glove.”

Disgust. That was pretty much the only emotion that covered their faces. Marcello just shrugged. He didn’t give a shit. He was a shameless asshole. He didn’t give a fuck what people thought about him. Hadn’t for a long time.

Lotor just shook his head. “Yeah… Anyway. You’re pretty much going through the entire place slaughtering everyone.”

“Yep.”

“And you’re only targeting members of the Daibazaal coven.”

“Sounds right.”

“Are you going to kill us?”

“Ha, ha… yeah.”

“We aren’t part of the coven.” 

Marcello frowned. “Oh really. The son of the two heads of this coven isn’t part of the coven? I wasn’t born yesterday… One could argue I was born about an hour ago. Reborn to be exact.”

“It’s true.” Said Ezor. “We’ve been trying to find an out for decades now. But you know, the only way out is in a body bag with these old covens.”

Marcello quickly made the connections in his mind and nodded. “Ah, I see… So me going through here and wrecking house is what you want. You want me to destroy the whole coven so you five can leave without getting attacked and killed by the higher ups. Right?”

“That’s pretty much it.” Said Lotor. “We’re operating on a live and let live thing here with you. Is that okay?”

“Of course.” Said Marcello with a grin. “You five can go and scamper off now. Just don’t let me catch you cheeky whipper snappers trying to start another coven in the name of Diabazaal or I’ll chop your balls off oh um… Shit can’t threaten a girl with that… Fuck it. I’ll think of a better threat later.”

“Um, thanks?” Lotor and his witches started to leave when Lotor stopped. “Before we go I think I should tell you that Zarkon is-”

“Yeah, yeah. Got super fucked up by Honerva. I know.” Said Marcello as he made him a shooing motion. “Now off with you. Go. I have a big ass key to get.”


	53. God mode

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Marcello's still causing shit for everyone. Nothing much to say about that. Kudos and comment when you can. Enjoy :D

It didn’t take much effort of Marcello’s part to rip open the vault door. He practically skipped inside. He knew the Key’s skeleton was close by, but first he had to get past the ever present gatekeeper.. The room was vastly empty and unremarkable. The only things to not was the huge window in the back of the room used to observe something in the other room, a stairway off to the side to get into that room, and a chair where the gatekeeper sat.

Marcello grinned and walked towards the unmoving man with open arms. “Zarkon! So nice to see you in the illusionary flesh again! How’s the lych life going? Heard it gets a little annoying when all your flesh starts to rot and fall off, but you look like you’re doing fine you stone faced bastard.”

Zarkon chuckled a little. It sounded more like a dark drumble that resonated around the room. “Marcello… It has been a while. You’ve been a thorn in this coven for far too long.”

“And you’ve been like herpes to me.” Said Marcello. “Every time I think I’m cured it just flares up again and everything hurts. Ever get demon herpes before? Almost lost my left testicle because of it.”

Zarkon didn’t seem amused. “Do you ever shut up? You sound like a whore.”

“True, but I kind of am. Can’t help it if I like having sex.” Said Marcello. “My fault that I don’t do enough to take care of myself… Well, at least I have a new body now. Gonna take better care of it this time around.” Zarkon stood up and started to walk towards him. “I have no idea how many people this body has fucked but it’s more than one… Maybe three? I’m not sure. Maybe two…”

Zarkon grabbed Marcello by the throat and lifted him off the ground. “Do you ever shut up?”

“It- it’s a condition!” Choked Marcello as he kicked his legs. He grabbed hold of Zarkon’s wrist with both his hands and pushed off his chest with his feet as hard as he could. There was an audible crack and pop as Marcello pulled himself away. He landed on the ground a few feet away from Zarkon with his skeletal hand hanging off his throat like a necktie. “... Usually I have to beg and call my dom daddy before I get choked out. So do you want this back or can I keep it?”

The ground started to shift around Marcello and he was promptly launched into the air, hit the ceiling then hit the floor. Marcello was momentarily stunned at being thrown around like a pinball. It had been a while since someone had been some something like that to him.

“Alright, I’ll call you daddy!” Whined Marcello. “You happy now daddy Zarkon?” Seconds later Marcello was getting pinballed around the room again. When he was allowed to fall to the floor he let out a long sigh. “I don’t think we’re on the same wavelength here…”

Zarkon watched him as he slowly stood up again. “You are pathetic. You know that right? You use innuendos and over the top sexual provocation to deflect what you really are.”

Marcello rolled his eyes. “What are you? My psychiatrist? You don’t need a degree to know that you idiot. I know exactly who I am and what I am. I’m a selfish piece of shit that honestly fucking hates everything, and if I don’t hate it I’m indifferent to it. That’s it.” He cracked his knuckles and grinned at Zarkon. “Now you on the other hand as so far in denial you’re practically living in Egypt.” 

The lych stared at him coldly for few seconds before laughing. It was wretched. It sounded like animals screeching and metal grinding. “So you know what the witch did? How she convinced him to do that? You’re a lot smarter than you look Marcello.”

“I could say the same thing to you Diabazaal.” Marcello grinned and ran his fingers through his hair. “A demon king using the skeleton of a lich as a conduit into another realm. And people say my plans are convoluted. How long have you been planning this or did your plans just evolve?”

“The time for talk is over.” Growled Diabazaal. “I am a demon king and I have entertained a peasant like you for long enough.”

“Agreed, but tell me my dear demon king, what is a king to a god?”

***

Keith hoped that they could get to Lance in time and stop Marcello. They had to. This plan had to work. Everyone else was a little skeptical of it but they couldn’t come up with anything else. In any case they needed to do this. He still felt worried. If the plan didn’t work then they were all fucked, and he didn’t fully trust Haggar, or Honerva, or whoever she was calling herself now.

He still didn’t trust her after what she had done to Shiro, and he sure as hell knew that Shiro was watching her like a hawk. One wrong move and she was dead. That was it. He sighed and looked straight ahead. This was going to be okay. He held on tightly to the syringe in his hand so strong that he felt like he was going to shatter it. But he couldn’t do that. If it broke then things would really be in the shit.

“We need to be careful.” Said Honerva. “When Marcello faces what remains of Zarkon we might be able to have a chance but it… It will be difficult. I don’t know how much of Zarkon is left anymore…”

“What do you mean?” Asked Allura.

Honerva sighed. “We did a bunch of horrible things… Me more than Zarkon… After what happened Dabaizaal was all that mattered. All that mattered was paying back my debt to them… They recently became impatient and I convinced Zarkon to be a conduit for Dabaizaal… In other words Dabaizaal has done to Zarkon what Marcello is doing to Lance.”

“How long ago was this?” Asked Pidge.

“About a week.” She said coldly. “He’s gone. Completely gone… Even if I stabbed him with one of those syringes it wouldn’t matter anyway. Zarkon is a lych. He has been a lych for decades… He became a lych at Diabazaal request.”

“Why would you do that?” Asked Hunk. “Isn’t a lych that skeleton guys?”

Honerva chuckled. “When you start a coven and make a pact with a demon your life becomes theirs. You become an extension of their will. You don’t get to argue. If you do you’re killed and replaced.” A loud rumbling was heard in the distance. “We’re close… It isn’t required, but if you want you can kill Zarkon too. Turn his skull to dust… He deserved some kind of end. A quick end to stop his suffering.”

They stopped in front of the vault door just in time to see Marcello getting thrown out of it and getting slammed into the wall. He slowly slid down the wall and crumpled to the ground. “Ow… Okay I know it’s rich coming from me but your powers are bullshit!” He got up and glanced over at the group. “Oh, hey there.” He grinned and casually leaned against the wall like he hadn’t just got thrown into it seconds ago. “So, how’s it hanging? Interesting to see you working with Honerva, but it’s whatever.”

“Are you okay?” Asked Hunk. Bless him for being this sweet to everyone.

Marcello shrugged. “I’m fine. All my bleeding is happening internally and that’s where all the blood’s meant to be. Though I think I’m missing a tooth… Might have swallowed it. For a skeleton that body’s got some power behind that punch.” A spectral hand reached out from the vault. It looked like it was made from shadows. “... And of course he can do this…” It grabbed him and yanked him back into the rook. “FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK!”

There was more sounds of things getting smashed and broken around the room. Keith cautiously looked inside. Marcello and Daibazaal were sharing blows. Despite Marcello getting thrown out of the room he was by no means weaker than the other. 

If anything Keith was slightly intimidated by how aggressive things were getting. They weren’t just throwing punches at each other. They were throwing objects around the room at each other. Then a huge piece of concrete got ripped from the ground and crashed into Marcello. He flew through the air and crashed through the glass window at the end of the room.

“LANCE!”

His shock quickly drew Daibazaal’s attention. “An angel?” They mused. “How interesting… One of Marcello’s pawns I assume… Haggar, I know you are there. Come here.” 

Honerva frowned but went to them. “Daibazaal.”

They stared down at her and sighed. “The coven is in ruins.”

“Yes.”

“And all because you went and decided to hold a grudge against someone inconsequential to the plan.” He put his hand on her head. “You disappoint me. I hate disappointments.” 

He picked her up by her head with one hand and put his other hand on her shoulder. With one quick motion he violently jerked her body in such a violent way her neck snapped and ripped through the skin on her neck. He then tossed her body aside like it was trash. It was so violent and sudden that no one had any idea what to do. All they could do was watch as the conduit for Daibazaal sat down on his chair. 

They sighed. “Don’t look so surprised. The coven between demons and witches is only around for as long as the demon wishes it. That witch just disappointed me. She was close, but no. Oh well. It doesn’t matter… Now why are you here? Haggar’s plan didn’t fully work out did it?”

As he talked a strange sound came from the other room Marcello had been thrown into. A crunching and grinding sound. It was almost nauseating and made Keith shudder. “I think you just helped Marcello complete his plan…”

Almost as if to confirm his words a giant skeleton hand shot through the glass and grabbed hold of Daibazaal, squeezing hard enough to grind his bones to dust. “I’ll ask you again.” Growled a voice that reverberated around the room. “What is a king to a god?” Before they could say anything Marcello crushed them in his hand. “I win.”

“... What do we do now?” Asked Allura. “How are we meant to-?”

“This changes nothing.” Said Keith. He nervously turned his sword over in one hand and the syringe in the other. “We stick to the plan. It’ll be fine. Just get ready.” He took a deep breath and dashed towards the window and jumped through the hole. He spread his wings and hoped that his body would know how to fly. 

He did not know how to fly.

With a cry Keith tumbled to the ground, but before he landed flat on his face he felt in invisible force gently pull him back and stop him inches from the ground before gently letting him go.

Keith quickly scrambled to his feet and looked at Marcello. He was still a man but above him was the floating skeleton of the Key. It seemed to be tethered by a strange energy to the ring on Marcello’s finger.

“Perfect.” Muttered Keith. “Just fucking perfect…”

“Still mad that Lance is no longer around?” Asked Marcello in a mocking tone. “Come now. Time heals all wounds and it’s been like what? Almost two hours now? I think that’s enough time to grieve.”

Keith glared at him and gritted his teeth. “You are nothing but an inhumane monster… You bastard… A thing like you should have never existed in this world.”

“Oh I fully agree with that.” Said Marcello with a grin. “I should never have existed. I fully believe that if abortion was a thing and my parents didn’t have suck massive hard ons for the Catholic church they never would have gotten married after my mother got knocked up out of wedlock.”

“... You have some troubling family issues.”

“Oh fuck you. You have abandonment issues.” Grumbled Marcello. “I don’t think you are in any position to judge me.”

“You’ve possessed the body of your nephew for your own selfish needs.” Snapped Keith. “Give him back. Give Lance back to me.”

“Gonna have to say that’s gonna have to be a big no.” Said Marcello with an overly pleased grin. “This body is mine. It will always be mine. It has been mine since I decided that I would take it when little Lancy was but a child of what? Fifteen? You will never understand how much time and energy I’ve put into Lance.”

“You’ll give him back now.” Growled Keith. He pointed his sword at Marcello and took a fighting stance.

“Ooo, how cute. And angel fighting a god.” Cooed Marcello as he took a much more relaxed stance. “I’m pretty sure there’s a whole religion of whack job crack pots that believe their punisher was an angel that fought against their beloved god. You want to become the Lucifer to my Yahweh?”

“What’s a god to an atheist?”

Marcello grinned. There was an excited fore in his eyes. “You get more and more interesting by the second. I can see why Lance fell in love with you… So how are we going to do this? You going to come at me? Am I going to come at you? At the same time? Hmmm, you’re making me excited for all the wrong reasons, or are they the right reasons?”

“SHUT UP!” Keith launched himself at Marcello as fast as his body would allow him to. Marcello managed to grab him by the shoulder, so Keither head butted him hard in the face, there was a slight crack as Marcello’s head snapped back and his nose started bleeding.

He threw Keith across the room. Immediately the spectral bones of the Key pinned him down. While he struggled and tried to free himself Marcello touched his face and grinned. “Wow. You know, if you had done that to Lance’s weak body he would have died I felt some bone shards entering my brain there. Good thing it’s a lot harder to kill me now. Being how I am a litteral fucking god now.” He waved his hand and the skeleton unpinned him and let Keith stand. “You can’t even control your own fucking body right now. Being reborn does that.”

Keith growled darkly. What he was saying was true. But he had to stick to the plan and just get close to him. The others would do their part. Just like they planned.

“JUST FUCKING DIE ALREADY!” He ran at Marcello. He really didn’t want to do this, but Marcello was a god and Allura could heal decapitation, or so she said. Hopefully this would work. He was in front of Marcello in seconds and forced his sword through him. A clean cut through his body. Split in half.

Marcello seemed surprised for a moment before he grinned at him. An almost errotic moan filled the room as the bisected parts pulled themselves together. “Oh Keith, you’re splitting me in two! NOW DO IT ANOTHER BILLION TIMES WHY DON’T YOU?!”

Keith quickly seized the opportunity and tried to stab Marcello with the syringe. “You lose.” He growled. 

Seconds before it hit his skin Marcello just smiled at him. “Stop.” Keith’s arm immediately froze. He couldn’t move it. It took Keith a second to register why this was happening and the reality was terrifying. “Drop your sword and kneel before me.”

The pull was too strong. Keith obeyed him and did as he was told. “Fuck you.” He growled. “You’re not my Summoner.”

Marcello chuckled and crouched in front of him. He tilted his chin up to meet his gaze and smiled. “But I have the same body and the same voice. Your body knows no difference. Lance was your master and now I am your master. You can’t go against your instincts.” He chuckled and rubbed his thumb over Keith’s bottom lip. “When we get out of here let’s go and have some fun. I can rock your world. I’m pretty versatile.” 

“Fucking die.” He growled.

Marcello’s demeanor changed from amused to annoyed in an instant. “I don’t think you understand the predicament you are in. Just like Lance, your body is not your own. I own your ass. Here, let me show you. Keith, you see all those lovely white scales that cover your body like armour? Peel them off until I tell you to stop. Start at your fingers. Use your teeth.”

Keith opened his mouth to snap back at him, but before he could come up with anything his jaw snapped shut and he tasted blood. He glanced down at his hand and saw a bloody patch on his finger. He opened his mouth and a small white scale fell out onto the floor. 

“... FUCK!”

Marcello giggled with delight as he took the syringe from Keith and smashed it into the ground. “Empty. Planning on giving me a heart attack? Adorable.” He mused. “That’s it Keith! Keep going! When you’re done with that you can start plucking out those pretty red feathers of yours. You’re so beautiful when you’re in pain.”

“Fucking sadist!” Hissed Keith as he pulled out another scale. “FUCK!”

Marcello smiled and patted his head as he stood up. “Good boy. Keep at it. Now if I can do this with you, Shiro is still technically under contract to obey me. Shiro!” He called. “Bring that elf down here with you right now!” Seconds later Shiro was there with Allura pinned under his paw. Neither looked happy with what was happening, but Marcello seemed pleased. “Aw thank you Shiro. You’re a good kitten.” He looked down at Allura. “I think we have met before? Allura, right?”

“Don’t speak to me.” She growled. “You’re a vile, loathsome, evil monster!”

“You flatter me.” The man chuckled a little to himself. “Well, that was one way to get reborn. Now what was I going to do next again? Steal nephews body, get my cassette back, absorb the Key’s bones, become a god… Ah, screw it. I’m pretty sure I wrote a list and put it somewhere at home. Okay, next stop is home!”

“Go fuck yourself.” Growled Keith. “We aren’t beaten yet.”

Marcello looked over at Keith and rolled his eyes. “Excuse me? Aren’t you three all incapacitated? I’m a god? Pretty sure I won.”

“No.” Growled Keith through gritted teeth. He spat out another scale and glared at him. “You’re predictable.”

That seemed to shock Macrello hearing that. “Excuse me? What are you talking about? Me predictable? What are you on about?”

“You’re only interested in us. Fuck you and your fucking ego.” He ripped out another scale and spat it across the room. “You lose.”

“What the fuck are-?” Marcello got tackled to the ground by Hunk going for his legs. Then Pidge jumped on top of him and stabbed him in the neck with a syringe full of orange liquid, injecting it all in one go.

Keith grinned at Marcello’s shocked expression through bloodied teeth. “You lose.”


	54. Sludge

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So there's a little bit of vomit in this chapter. Nothing too graphic, I think? But just a fair warning for those that don't like it. Kudos and comment when you can. Enjoy.

_Keith’s plan was crazy and he knew everyone was doubting him. “He’s an egotistical asshole.” He said. “He didn’t even pay any attention to Hunk or Pidge. I doubt he even knew they were in the room. Whatever happens either Hunk of Pidge has to be the one to inject him with this.”_

_“That plan is too dangerous.” Said Allura. “They could get seriously hurt.”_

_Pidge frowned as she spoke. “No. Keith is right. Marcello is the kind of asshole that would overlook everything they don’t think is important. He wouldn’t go after me or Hunk before he got to you guys first. We’re small fish to him. Not worth it.”_

_Shiro frowned a little and shook his head. “It seems risky… But what are you thinking?”_

_“I… Look, I’m going to face Marcello head on.” Said Keith. “I’ll distract him. Make him fight me. Keep all his attention on me. Shiro, Allura, if I can’t distract him you two need to. We can’t let him focus any attention on Pidge or Hunk. If he sees either of them then the plan is over.” He looked over at Hunk and Pidge. “I wouldn’t ask you guys to do this if I thought I could do this myself.”_

_“Lance is my best friend.” Said Hunk. “I might not have been the best support for him during all this magic stuff but I… I can do this.”_

_“Me too.” Said Pidge. She took the box of syringes off of Keith and took out a full one, shoving it into her pocket and passing an empty one to Keith. “Make him think that you’re going to stop him. When he lets his guard down Hunk will knock him over and I’ll get him.”_

_“... Do you guys think this will work?” Asked Keith. “I mean, this is my first idea and it… If it doesn’t work he will definitely kill us all.”_

_“You don’t think Lance would do the same for us?” Asked Hunk. He smiled and put his hand on Keith’s shoulder. “We’re not going to give up on him.”_

***

Keith watched as Marcello coughed and writhed on the floor. He looked shocked and pissed. “No…” He growled out as he clawed at the floor. “No, no, no, no no… Fuck you. Fuck you! FUCK YOU!” There was something cathartic about watching him suffer.

“Yeah, yeah. Fuck you too.” Muttered Keith. He hoped Marcello was in intense pain. “Just hurry up and die.”

Marcello groaned and coughed up a large blood clot. “No…” He growled. “I can’t lose… I won’t lose… Not to you… Not over something so stupid… No… Fuck!” The spectral, skeletal being that was the body of Key started to waver and eventually vanished. Marcello screamed and thrashed around the ground like a small child.

“It’s over Marcello.” Said Keith. “Just let go already. Die with some amount of dignity.”

Marcello glared at him. The colour in his eyes was wavering between blue and green. “You think I’d go through all this just to fucking die? Fuck you. I know everything! I can’t lose! I can’t! I fucking can’t!” He spluttered and coughed up another blood clot. “FUCK!”

“... I just want Lance back.”

“Selfish fuck.” Growled Marcello. He dug his nails into the ground and clutched his stomach. “You don’t even love him you know? You just like the thought of him! It’s infatuation! You just like him because he’s different! You don’t-” Marcello suddenly slammed his face into the ground. “FUCK!”

He slowly raised his head and glared at Keith. It looked like he had heterochromia. One eye was acid green and the other was ocean blue. This meant it was working right? That Lance was fighting back and forcing him out now, right?

Keith crouched down in front of him. “Lance? Is that you?”

“Keith, I- SHUT UP!” He snapped as he started to pull at his hair. “Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! Just fucking shut up Lance! Just shut up and go away! This body is- MINE! IT’S MINE MARCELLO! GET OUT! GO AWAY! FUCK OFF!” The ground shuddered when he yelled.

“...” Keith grabbed hold of Lance and held him close. He gently ran his fingers through Lance’s hair and slowly rocked. “It’s okay Lance. I’ve got you.” Lance’s body was burning hot and freezing cold. Muscles tensed and completely relaxed. He was grinding his teeth and violently snapping his jaw, biting at nothing.

“Fight it Lance!” Said Hunk. “Don’t listen to him! You’re so much stronger than he is! What does he know about you? Nothing!”

“Yeah!” Said Pidge. “Fuck that guy! Get your dumb bitch soul in your back in you body! You still owe me like twenty bucks! Don’t think you’re getting out of paying me back you ass hole!”

Lance was shaking and starting to claw at any part of Keith he could get his hands on. “Fuck you!” He hissed. “Fuck you all! Fucking die!! Just fucking die already! It’s mine! Mine! Mine! Mine! Mine! Mine! You can’t take- I am! Fuck off Marcello! THIS BODY IS MINE!”

He violently doubled over and vomited up a ridiculous amount of blood and black junk. It was thick and sticky like tar. When he was done emptying his guts he leaned against Keith and sighed heavily. “Ow…” 

Keith carefully tilted Lance’s head back. Both his eyes were ocean blue. As they should be. “Lance? Is that you?”

“... Since when do you have wings?”

Keith smiled and hugged him tightly. He could feel his eyes starting to sting with tears. “Thank fuck you’re okay… Shit I thought you were gone. Don’t ever do that again.”

“Didn’t I tell you to run away?”

“Not like I’m going to follow the orders of some asshole that’ll tell me they love me and then die.”

Lance chuckled a little and grinned. “Okay fair enough.” He sighed and rested his head against Keith’s chest. “I’m tired…”

Pidge rolled her eyes. “Yeah. Getting possessed by the crazy ghost of your uncle will do that to you. Let’s get the fuck out of here.” The group agreed and quickly left the building. Keith carried Lance the whole way back to the car. He, Lance and Allura took one car while Hunk, Pidge and Shiro took the other.

Keith sat in the back with Lance and carefully laid him back so his head was resting on his lap. He hummed softly as he ran his fingers through Lance’s hair. Lance sighed contently. “When we get back home, you’re coming to sleep in my bed with me tonight.” Lance mumbled.

Keith blushed when he said that. “Yeah. Sure… I’d like that.”

“I’d like it more.”

“Dork.”

“Weirdo angel, demon thing.”

“Shitty warlock.”

“Love you moron.”

“Love you too dumbass.”

***

Back in the room. Deep in the coven’s stronghold. The sludge Lance vomited started to move and slither. 

_Those bastard… I’ll kill them. I’ll kill them. Kill them. Kill them. Kill them. Kill them. Kill them. Kill them. Kill them. Kill them. Kill them. Kill them. Kill them. Kill them. Kill them. Kill them. Kill them. Kill them. Kill them. Kill them. Kill them. Kill them. Kill them. Kill them. Kill them._

“That’s quite enough out of you dumb-dumb.” Said Bob as he walked over to the sludge. “I told you that you would never be a god and that’s true. Doesn’t matter what body you have. You’re still the same person Marcello.”

_Fucking die Bob. Just fucking die._

They just laughed and looked down at him. “Marcello, be reasonable. Did you ever think you could actually pull this off? Was your ego so big you didn’t look any further into the future beyond you becoming a god? Even if it was just for a moment?”

_..._

“Thought as much.” The room around them started to crack and crumble. “This place doesn’t have much time left. With no more coven members or the demon presiding over it to keep it running this space it is starting to collapse in on itself. Soon this space and everything inside it will be erased from existence.” 

_And what? You want me to cry and beg for my life? You want me to repent for what I’ve done? Because I won’t! I’m not sorry for anything I’ve done! I only regret not telling that fucking angel to kill his friends and then himself. I was a fucking god! A god!_

“You weren’t.” Said Bob calmly. “You just wanted to be a god and lost your way. We already have enough angry and vengeful gods out there.”

_Fuck you._

Bob shook his head and produced a bottle in his hands. He removed the cork and held it to the puddle that was what remained of Marcello. The gunk was instantly sucked inside and Bob corked it. He smiled at his work and held Marcello up to eye level. “I think it’s time we made our leave.”

_Fuck you! I’d rather die here then go off with you!_

Bob rolled his eyes. “You’re just cranky because your plan failed.” 

_I came out here to have a good time and I feel so attacked right now._

“Whatever you say, you cranky old dummy.” A piece of the ceiling fell and landed inches away from then. “And that’s our cue to exit.”

_Fuck you. Let me die here._

“Now, now. Don’t be like that.” Cooed Bob as he walked off. “Do you like game shows?"

_... Kill me..._

“Oh be nice. So you know how I can dimension hop and everything? Well in one reality I host a game show. Garfle Warfle Snick.”

_Seriously, leave me here and let me die._

“No way. You’ll be a perfect addition to my studio audience. You’ll love it.” Said Bob. “In fact, I’m going to have some guests with familiar faces. They’re paladins from a universe where they are fighting aliens in a giant robot made from robot lions.”

_I will do anything for you if you just leave me here._

“No.”

_Fuck..._

***

When they got back to the estate, Keith picked Lance up and took him straight to his room and made him comfortable. Lance complained the whole time. Complaining about being sore and feeling sick. Allura came by and did her best to heal him with her magic. They would be in contact with the Marmora coven tomorrow for their help.

Allura also healed Keith’s fingers before she left. “You two get some sleep. You deserve it.”

“We will.” Said Keith. “And Allura?”

“Hmm?”

“Thanks… For everything.”

She smiled a little and nodded. “Any time.” She left them alone after that.

When she was gone Keith protectively held Lance and covered him with his wings. “How are you feeling now?”

“Sleepy.” Mumbled Lance. “That was exhausting…”

“It was.” Keith kissed his cheek. “... Everything was messed up, but at least it’s over now.”

“Yeah.” Lance snuggled into Keith’s chest. “I think I’m done with magical adventures now.”

“Me too.”

The door opened up and Pidge walked in carrying a pillow. She didn’t say a word. She just climbed into bed with them and flopped down. “Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuk!”

“... Need something?” Asked Lance.

“Dude, after tonight there is no way I am sleeping alone.” She grumbled. “I’m staying close to the fucked up angel thing with a giant butter knife. Plus you know, you might need a human to stab a bitch with a syringe filled with orange glow juice stuff.”

There was another knock at the door and Shiro and Hunk looked in. Hunk nervously laughed. “Looks like Pidge has the same idea…”

Lance sighed and looked up at them. “If you guys want to sleep in here too go ahead. Slumber party in my room… Just let me sleep. Okay? No noise. I’m done with today…” He mumbled the last part as he turned into Keith’s chest and hid his face.

Keith held Lance close and immediately shot everyone else warning looks. Basically threatening all of them to keep quiet because if Lance woke up because of one of them he was going to remove some part of their bodies with his teeth.

Pidge flipped him off. Hunk just kind of nodded. Shiro rolled his eyes as he tried to make himself comfortable on the bed. It was a big Mattress, but having four people on it was really stretching it, let alone an adult manticore. He ended up laying next to the bed instead. 

Keith relaxed a little and turned his attention back to Lance. The poor, sweet, Warlock was just so tired. He was already asleep. Keith couldn’t help but smile at his relaxed sleeping face. He smiled and lightly traced his thumb over Lance’s cheek. 

He was perfect. Lance was perfect. This perfect man was in love with him. He hoped it wasn’t something he just spat out because he was dying. That would suck. But he did say that he loved him before, and he held him, and he kissed him… They could talk about this more when Lance was well rested.

His wings fluttered a little and Keith sighed. Was this just how he was going to look now? He kind of hoped not. He didn’t want to have wings. He didn’t know what to do with them. Hopefully they would go away like the time he tried Lance’s blood for the first time. He sighed contently and rested his chin on top of Lance’s head. Everything was okay now. Everything was fine.


	55. Healing slowly

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So here it is everyone. The final chapter. Hope you like it. Consider it an early Christmas present from me to you. Kudos and comment when you can. Enjoy :D

It took about a month before things started to get back to normal at the McClain estate. Lance was extremely tired and slept most of the time. Everyone was worried about this but when the members of the Marmors coven came over, and Coran (at the behest of Allura) to check on him. Everyone was of the consensus that Lance just needed lots of rest and time to recover. Apparently getting your soul ripped out of your own body and then having it shoved back in really messed with someone.

Keith was by Lance’s side the entire time, even when his feathers started to fall out on their own. Lance made a few jokes about him molting and Keith just rolled his eyes. By the end of the month Keith looked like he was back to his normal self. Though he did have some weird scars on his back.

Keith held up a handheld mirror and looked over his shoulder to look at his odd scars. He hoped they would fade in a few decades. “... Now I have to wear a shirt.” He muttered.

Lance chuckled and reached over and ran his hand down Keith’s back. “You look fine Keith… Still can’t believe you ate me and became an angel. I must be magic.”

Keith rolled his eyes. “Technically you are, but you were performing a self sacrifice. Kolivan said that willingly sacrificing your life for mine probably completely absolved you of your sins. He said I’m probably turn into an angel if I ate a newborn baby too.”

Lance cringed a little and sat up in bed. “Yeah, too bad we don’t have an endless supply of newborns you can eat.”

“I don’t want to eat babies anyway.” Mumbled Keith. “... Don’t like eating small things anyway…”

“Yeah… speaking of eating, I’m starving.” Lance got up and went to search for some clothes. Keith happily watched him from his spot on the bed. Lance had gotten used to it. Keith took less than five minutes to get dressed while Lance took forever. He took a while picking out some comfy clothes and did a small spin for him. “How do I look?”

Keith tilted his head slightly and frowned. “... I don’t like it.”

“What?” Lance pouted and looked down at himself. “What’s wrong with how I’m dressed?”

Keith got up and walked over to Lance and tugged at his shirt. “You look better with it off…”

Lance blushed and lightly slapped his hands away. “You stop that now. I want to eat breakfast.”

“I can bring you up something later.” Said Keith. “You’ve stayed in bed all day before. No one will notice if you’re stuck in bed for a different reason.”

Lance’s face was burning. He side stepped Keith and headed to the door. “Well if we’re going to do that then I’ll still need to eat something to give me energy.”

“I could give you something to eat…”

“Why did I have to fall for some horny demon?”

“Because I’m cute?”

“... I hate you sometimes.” They continued to playfully bicker with each other all the way down to the kitchen. It was always like that in the morning since Lance had gotten better. It was always playful, never hurtful. They always ended up smiling and laughing by the time they got to the kitchen.

When they got there they saw Hunk staring at a bag of rocks while looking at a recipe book. He looked up at them and smiled. “Hey guys. Sorry but it’s cereal for breakfast today.”

“Awww.” Whined Lance as he grabbed a box of coco puffs from the cupboard. “What’s with the rocks?”

He shrugged. “I asked Shay what kind of food trolls usually eat. Turns out they eat rocks. She wrote down some things that are apparently more palatable for humans. So I’m going to try making stone soup… I want to make some things that she likes…”

Lance grinned. “That’s awesome! I want to try stone soup too!”

“Fuck yeah!” Yelled Pidge from the hallway. She grinned and happily ran into the kitchen. “Guys! I got a new internship!”

“That’s awesome Pidge!” Said Hunk.

After everything that happened in the coven’s stronghold, there was an open investigation. After all, over half the employees had suddenly vanished along with the heads of the company. It scared a fair few people. Logically it shouldn’t have happened, but it did. The new CEO was Lotor. He was in the middle of rebranding the company to try and distance it from what it previously was. Needless to say many, if not all internships were stopped which meant Pidge needed to look for something else.

She grinned and waved her phone around. “Yeah. So my brother is working for this independent game studio. Guess who’s got a job with them? This girl.”

Lance grinned. “Awesome Pidge. You gonna be running around getting coffee and doughnuts?”

“You know it.” Said Pidge. “But since Matt’s working there I’m pretty sure when it come to crunch time they’ll probably let me do some coding.”

Lance nodded as he ate his cereal. “Neat.”

“Yeah. Where’s Shiro?”

Keith shrugged. “He’s been in his nest a lot… He’s been thinking about Adam a lot lately. I don’t know if it’s about past Adam or the Adam he is currently seeing…”

“I can always go and check on him.” Said Lance. “I’m a lot more intune with my empath powers now.” Ever since Marcello had died or was at least expelled from his body, Lance had been more incontrol with his powers. Krolia said it was possible that either the trauma of being killed and possessed unlocked some kind of power in Lance, Marcellow was actively suppressing Lance’s magic so he could step in and possess him, or a combination of the two.

Everyone was impressed with him. He was no longer in danger of getting concussed by flying books. He was also a lot better at reading people’s emotions now. He’s started to become the emotional centerpoint of the house. Which was good, but could be draining for him. Krolia was giving him lessons a few times a week.

Keith gently squeezed Lance’s hand. “If you’re sure.”

Lance grinned and squeezed back. “No problem. Back in a second guys.” Lance left the room and happily walked into the first room with a closed door. He and the house were almost fully intune with each other. They had their moments, but in general the house put him on the floors he needed to be on.

It took Lance only a few seconds to get to Shiro’s door and happily knocked on the door to Shiro’s room. “Shiro? Can I come in?”

“Yeah.” Called Shiro.

When he walked in he saw the Manticore curled up in the middle of his nest staring at Adam’s skull. It didn’t look the way it did before. It wasn’t kept in pristine condition anymore. It was cracked and dull. Shiro hadn’t been taking care of it the way he had before.

Lance walked over and sat next to him. He could feel a storm of emotions coming from the older creature. Mostly guilt and confusion. “Are you okay?”

Shiro chuckled a little. “That’s something we should be asking you. You’re the one that died and almost got your body taken over.”

“Don’t remind me…” Grumbled Lance. “I’m going to be having PTS dreams about that for years… It’s so fucking creepy hearing things going on around you, hearing someone else while they are thinking, and getting random flashes of what’s going on around you.”

“Yeah.”

“Yeah… A-anyway, what’s with Adam? Need me to find some gold or something to fix the cracks?”

Shiro thought for a moment. “No… I think I’ll let it go…”

“Really?” Hearing Shiro say he was going to let Adam’s skull go was something he didn’t think he would ever hear. Adam’s skull was his precious object. Something he needed to have. Had to have.

“Yeah. Does that make me a bad person?” Asked Shiro. “Am I bad for doing this? Just letting him go?”

Lance could understand the guilt and confusion Shiro was feeling a little better now. He sighed and rubbed Shiro’s shoulder. “It’s okay Shiro… I don’t think it makes you a bad person. I think it’s just you’re finally able to let your guilt go. Maybe you don’t have to feel guilty about Adam dying anymore? Maybe this is a sign from Adam that you can move on now? That he’s forgiven you?”

“... Maybe.” Shiro sighed and stared deep into the sockets of the skull. “I should tell Adam the truth, shouldn’t I? Let him know I’m not human… I’m a manticore and he… He’s going to be so weirded out when he knows he’s a reincarnation…”

Lance patted his back. “Look, if you like you can bring him here to tell him. We’ll all support you no matter what. Heck, I think Keith would stab Adam if he hurt you.”

Shrio chuckled and relaxed a bit. “Yeah, he would… I’ll tell Adam soon. I want to date him just a little more before I tell him… I want him to trust me.”

“I’m sure he will… Might think you’re kind of crazy at first without proof… But yeah. I think that’s a good idea. Come and eat something with us.”

“Okay.” Shiro got up and followed Lance out of the room.

Lance smiled a little at him. Shiro had been making progress. A lot of progress. It looked like he was finally reaching the last stage of grief; acceptance. Once Shiro fully accepted everything that had happened and moved on, then he could start forming a new and proper relationship with Adam.

“Everyone’s in the kitchen.” Said Lance. “Just head on in there. I gotta make a quick stop to the bathroom.”

“Okay. See you in a bit.”

Lance smiled and walked into the closest bathroom. When he was alone he took a deep breath and slowly sank down to the floor. All this magic training was tough. Tough on his body and tough on his mind. He was doing well, but he still had major doubts about his own abilities and was never really able to perform as well as he thought he should… And he was meant to keep everyone happy. That’s what he had been doing for the past few days when he was well enough to get out of bed, right?

He really wished he knew what he was doing. Lance got up from the floor and looked at himself in the mirror. He looked fine. But his eyes didn’t look fine. He didn’t know how to describe it. His eyes looked old. Very old. Like they had seen some shit. Which he had, but damn it was so noticeable now. Did everyone else notice? Did Keith notice? He really didn’t want his boyfriend to notice how tired he really was all the time now.

Lance splashed some cold water on his face to try and snap himself out of this funk that he had gotten himself into. He didn’t have time for this. Now was the time to be happy. He didn’t die. He was still alive. He was still here. His friends were safe. He and Keith were happy and in love. That was enough, right?

He had been told by the others that he might technically be a god now because of some of the shit Marcello pulled, but they had no way of actually testing it without potentially killing him again. He didn’t want to risk dying again to confirm or deny it. He wanted to just be him. He just wanted to be Lance.

He left the bathroom and went to the kitchen. Hunk was still reading about how to make stone soup while Pidge and Keith were tossing one of the rocks around, and Shiro was eating a cow bone.

Lance smiled a little. Being here with his friends. This was fine. This was enough. He walked into the room and wrapped an arm around Keith’s shoulders. “So, what are we gonna do today?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I am going to make this into a series. Starting early next year. I have a vague idea of what I want to do and where the story will need to go, but I'm more than happy to hear your suggestions. I can't count how many times I was going to write one thing and then BOOM! Someone commented something and I completely changed what I was going to do because that idea was too perfect.
> 
> Thank you all so much for your support in the form of hits, kudos, and comments. It really motivated me to keep pushing out these chapters. Especially the last few ones. lol. Anyway, you are all lovely and wonderful people. Check out some of my other stuff if you feel like it. I have a few stories for a few different fandoms :P


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